242 
IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 
4. The very summit of King Hill, and other elevations in St. 
Joseph, Mo. The fossils are here very abundant at the extreme 
summit, which is about 250 feet above the valley. 
5. The cut near the New Orleans & Northwestern railroad 
depot in Natchez, Miss.* 
6. A cut near the corner of Walnut and South streets, and 
several other cuts, especially northward, in Vicksburg, Miss. 
In all these cases the fossiliferous loess extends over the top- 
most portions of the hills where faulting and fissuring are least 
noticeable, and where the horizontal distribution of the fossils is 
so uniform that the introduction of the shells through fissures is 
inconceivable. 
That the fossils of the loess should have found their way into the 
deposit in the manner suggested by Professor Todd is' so contrary 
to all the facts which may be observed even without getting out of 
sight of the Missouri river, that in presenting this view he has 
shown an utter lack of that “scientific caution” which he himself 
gratuitously suggests to the writer. 
The following considerations are especially worthy of notice in 
this connection : 
1. If the fossil shells had been carried downward from the 
surface as Professor Todd suggests, there should be a prepon- 
derance of these shells in the upper part of the deposit. As a 
matter of fact they are frequently abundant at considerable depths 
and lacking nearer the surface. 
2. The shells should in that case frequently, if not usually, 
appear in vertical or oblique lines marking the old fissures. In 
truth, the shells are usually in continuous bands, either horizontal 
or following vertical contours. 
3. The shells . should be absent from the topmost portions of 
higher elevations and from horizontal or gently sloping loess de- 
posits. In reality they are frequently abundant in both, as already 
stated. 
4. If the shells had simply fallen or crept into fissures we 
should, at least occasionally, find comparatively fresh shells at 
some distance below the surface. In an experience covering more 
than twenty-five years, during which the writer has examined fos- 
siliferous loess in innumerable sections from Wisconsin to Louisi- 
ana, and from Indiana to Nebraska, he has not seen a single speci- 
men of this kind below a depth of a few inches, nor has he learned 
of such a case. 
*See Am. Geol., Vol. XXX, PI. XII. 
