274 



University of California. 



[Vol. 2. 



material for Bettany's* valuable contribution to our knowledge of 

 the John Day Oreodontidae. 



In the summer of 1873, Prof. Joseph Le Conte.f in company 

 with Professor Condon, visited the western border of the field and 

 made some important observations on the geology. 



Parties under Wortman and Sternberg collected for Prof. E. D. 

 Cope in 1878 and 1879, obtaining the material upon which Cope 

 based his important publications on John Day vertebrates. 



In the summer of 1880, Captain Bendire, of the U. S. Army, 

 with a large party of the 7th U. S. Cavalry, made a short tour 

 through the basin under the guidance of L. S. Davis. Collections 

 of plants were made by him at Bridge Creek, Van Horn's Ranch, 

 and probably also at Cherry Creek. A few fish remains were col- 

 lected in the plant beds at Van Horn's Ranch and small collections 

 of mammalian material were obtained at several localities in the 

 John Day and the Mascall formations. Through some unfortunate 

 mistake, Bendire's collection of plants and fish from the Mascall 

 seems to have been considered as coming from below the John 

 Day, and dire confusion has been the result of all geological publi- 

 cation based upon that supposition. Bendire's collections were 

 turned over to the Smithsonian Institution. The plants were 

 afterwards described by Lesquereau,;|; and the fish by Cope.§ 



In 1882, Davis and Day collected under Marsh for the U. S. 

 Geological Survey. Their work seems to have been confined to 

 the beds south of the Blue Mountains. 



No farther work was done in the field till 1889, when Prof. 

 VV. B. Scott spent the summer in the John Day basin with a large 

 party from Princeton University. After Professor Scott's return a 

 portion of his party worked over the country south of the 

 mountains. 



*G. T. Bettany. On the Genus Merycochoerus, Quar. Jour. Geol. Soc. 

 Lond., 1876, V. 32, p. 259. 



fAm. |. Sc., 1S74, Vol. 7, p. 167. 

 jProc. U. S. Nat. Ins., 1888, pp. 13-19. 

 \ Am. Nat., 1889, p. 625. 



