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Cincinnati Society of Natural History. 



specimen would be a different species. It is therefore better, if it be con- 

 sidered a species at all, to regard all the forms as one. 



As none of these three figures — Hall's, Billings' or Miller's- show any 

 signs of structure, and as neither Billings' nor Miller's descriptions give 

 any indication that the fossil possessed any, it is difficult to say why it 

 should be considered as an Alga, or, in fact, an organism of any sort. 

 As the differences between Billings' and Miller's descriptions are imma- 

 terial, there can be no doubt but that the A. biclavata is a synonym of 

 A. antiquata, and should be so regarded. There being no structure exhib- 

 ited, and though the form is constant, yet it seems more probable that it 

 is a concretion than that it is organic. This is here thrown out as a 

 suggestion. 



These, then, may be regarded as the products of the action of water 

 upon mud, and the result is that eight so-called species and one variety 

 disappear altogether. These species are : Aristophycus ramosum, M. k 

 D.; Var. germanum, M. & D.; Arthraria antiquata, Billings; (A. biclavata, 

 S. A. M.); Discophycus typicalis, Walcott; Cyathophycus subsphericus, 

 Walcott; Palseophycus flexuosus, James; Trichophycus venosum, S. A. M.; 

 Trichophycus sulcatum, M. & D.; Chloephycus plumosum, M. & D. 



[to be concluded.] 



THE VILLAGE INDIANS OF NEW MEXICO. 

 By James W. Abert. 



Read before the Society, September, 1884. 



These interesting people have always awakened great thought and study 

 in the minds of ethnologists, on account of their attainments in civiliza- 

 tion as well as the intimate relations they seem to bear to that mysterious 

 pre-historic race whom we designate as the Mound Builders. 



From the days of Francisco Coronado, these Pueblo Indians have been 

 noted for their peculiar characteristics, so different from other tribes of 

 Indians. They are sober, industrious and conspicuous for morality and 

 honesty. Cannibalism and human sacrifice were nowhere found among 

 them. 



When I visited New Mexico in 1847, there were twenty Pueblo villages 

 still inhabited, numbers depopulated and in ruins, and many, of which the 

 Indian population had been supplanted by the Spanish race. 



The whole population of the Pueblos, as given by the U. 8. Census, is 



