112 Cincinnati Society of Natural History. 
G. T. Bettany* described, from the Miocene of John Day’s river, 
Oregon, Merycocherus leidyi, and M. temporalis. 
J. A. Allen+ described, from the lead crevices and superficial strata 
of the lead region of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois, of supposed Plio- 
cene age, Canis mississippiensis, and Cervus whitney?. Charles M. 
Wallace found flint implements in the stratified drift, near Richmond, 
Virginia, which he referred to Post-pliocene age. 
In 1877, Dr. F. M. Endlicht found the Puerco Group forming the 
lowest member of the Wasatch, and well developed in southern Colora- 
do. It was best observed on the Lower Animas, where it consists of 
1,000 to 1,200 feet of variegated shales and marls. At the base, they 
are a maddy green, changing into yellow or almost blue. Farther up, 
pink, pale orange, lilac, and reddish colors predominate, varied by in- 
terstrata of white or light yellow. Thin beds of sandstone merely of 
local occurrenee, however, separate these beds; not forming definite 
recognizable horizons. Farther east, these variegated marls gradual- 
ly change into shales and sandstones, so that they are no longer 
characteristic. Above them there occur 1,000 feet of yellow to brown 
sandstones and shales. Asa rule the beds of sandstone are heavy, 
weathering massively, but they frequently show but small thickness, 
and are interstratified with yellow and grayish shales. In some of the 
shales, indications of coal may be observed, but nowhere throughout 
the San Juan region was any vein found that would have been 
sufficiently large, or of good quality to be worked. : 
All the lower canons of the San Juan drainage, and that of the river - 
itself, are formed by this series of sandstones, and others superin- 
cumbent. Over the entire region which they cover, they are uniform, 
both in occurrence and in lithological character. Their very small 
dip to the south, 2° to 4°, and their total thickness of 3,000 feet, en- 
ables them to extend over a large area of country. 
Dr. B. F. Mudge found the Pliocene strata of Kansas resting direct- 
ly upon the Cretaceous. The material of the Pliocene deposits con- 
sists of sandstone of various shades of gray and brown, occasionally 
whitened by a small admixture of lime. The lower strata are usually 
composed of finer sand than the upper, and much more loose and 
friable in their texture. The overlying beds are of coarser ingredients, 
consisting of water-worn pebbles of metamorphic rocks, quartz, green- 
* Quar. Jour. Geo. Soc. Lond., vol. xxxii. 
+ Am. Jour. Sci. and Arts, 3d ser., vol. xi. 
t 9th Ann. Rep. U.S. Geo. Sur. Terr. 
