142 
THE SCIENTIST. 
distance, 80 feet, below the sigillaria are all 
the known veins of coal to a depth of nearly 
lOOl) feet. 
No prospecting for coal at great depths 
has been done in the field except one boring 
made on the VanHorn or Felker ranch. This 
failed to penetrate coal. As well as I re- 
membember, this boring was about 400 feet 
deep. Thirty miles distant at Fall River, 
and on nearly the same ge ^logical horizon, I 
supirinteuded a baring that was pat Hown to 
a depth of 938 feet, ani it penetra'ed but 
one thin vein of coal. At Reece about 
thirtyfive miles west, a boring was made on a 
horizon about 125 feet higher, nearly on the 
dividing line between the upper Carbonifer- 
ous and Permian rocks. It was sunk, as 
shown by the record kept, to a depth of 
800 feet. No coal of any importance was 
struck, in fact none except that on the two 
horizons mentioned above. 
I have been enabled to identify the lower 
coal horizon, mentioned above, by its proxi- 
mity to a persistent formation of shale that 
contains great numbers of fossil shells, 
mostly myalina sub-quadrata with an occas- 
i mal m. — recurvorostris. 
This coal horizon affords most of the work- 
able coal in Osage county, Kansas The hori- 
zon extends through Lyon county and into 
Greenwood, being well defined six miles west 
of Madison, fifteen miles south of Emporia. 
I have endeavored to trace the upper layer 
of coal, mentioned above, by its proximity 
to a limestone that is very rich in the little 
wheat, grain like fossils, fusilina robusta and 
F. — cylindricus. but have found the attempts 
only partially successful on account of the 
lack of perfect persistency of the part on my 
datum, the last mentioned limestone. 
On the west side of this sigillaria field and 
in a lower layer of the sandstone can be found 
some beautiful prints or impressions of 
fern leaves. Some of these impressions are 
four or five feet long. The venation and ser- 
ration are neaily perfect. There are several 
species. Among them are the wide spread 
pecopteris and polypodium. The largest im- 
pressions are probably of the gerus felix. 
These fern prints may be found in ihe bed 
of Sharp Branch from Virgil easterly to the 
sigillaria field. They are more or less plen- 
tiful from this neighborhood, in a southerly 
direction on the sandstone horizon, for thirty 
miles. On the Hunt farm near Charleston 
in Greenwood county are some very fine fern 
impressions. These impressions ate all in 
hard, ferruginous, sandstone. 
Oa this same horizon, my little daughter, 
five years old, discovered a fine specimen of 
sterbergia which she exchanged with Mr. A, 
C. Austin of this city. 
The readers of the Scientist must n^t 
get the impression that valuable o si-S speci- 
mens caa be found in the greatest profusion 
in this sigillaria field by simply making a 
hurried survey of the surface. Such is not 
the case. Specimens must be searched for 
here as elsewhere. It is true there are train 
loads of sigillaria, but good specimens are 
comparatively scarce for reasons given above. 
Notwithstanding this, the industrious col ec tor 
need not fail in this splendid field where the 
ferns once grew to a height of 100 feet and 
attained a diameter of possibly six feet. 
Literary Notes. 
In the poi)iilar Science Monthly for 
October, Hon. Carroll D, Wright will 
begin a series of papers under the title 
Lessons from the Census. 
The serifs of articles on American In- 
dustries will be continued with a fully 
illustrated account of the manufacture 
of steel, by William F. Durfee, giving 
the history of the industry from colonial 
times to the introduction of the Bessenjer 
process . 
Prof. A E. Dolbear will contribute 
an essay on INfetamorphoses in Education. 
It is a thoughtful paper. 
The Rivalry of the Higher Senses is the 
title of a paper by Prof. G. T. W. Pat- 
rick, to appear also. It points out how 
greatly we differ from the ancients in re- 
ceiving most of our information through 
