Contribution* t<> Geology of the Soulfiwest. — Hill. 119 
The degree to which a vacuum is formed below the auger when it 
it is being raised depends of course on the nature of the walls of 
the boring and the material on the auger, but in depths to forty 
feet I have seldom found the air pressure very great and never an 
insuperable obstacle. 
The instrument is simple and inexpensive and will prove a use- 
ful means for obtaining data in regard to soft deposits at moderate 
depths. 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE GEOLOGY OF THE 
SOUTHWEST. 
By Robt. T. Hill, Austin. 
LXote.— These papers will contain brief announcements of the results of scien- 
tific exploration in the Texas Region of the United States, to-wit: southern Indian 
'Territory, southwest Arkansas, Texas, eastern New Mexico and northern Mexico.] 
The altitude of Mount Scott. — Mount Scott is one of the high- 
est peaks of the Wichita mountains. It is situated about 12 
miles west of Fort Sill, on the Comanche reservation in Indian 
territory, and consists entirely of massive granite, mostly com- 
ix >sed of red feldspar. I recent^ measured this mountain with 
the assistance of the U. S. signal officer at Fort Sill, who made 
mercurial readings while I climbed the mountain with my aneroid. 
Altitude of summit 2805 feet ; altitude of plain at base of moun- 
tain, Fort Sill signal station, 1.2(H); altitude of Red river, sixty 
miles south, 750. 
A new Silurian area of the United States. In the central por- 
tion of the Chickasaw nation extending from Wahpemick Acad- 
emy to Duncan, including the Arbuckle mountains, there is a 
grand development of Silurian limestone and shales, of various 
ages from Trenton to Ilelderburg, as determined by Prof. H. S. 
Williams, from fossils sent to him. and perhaps later or Devonian. 
These will be described by the writer in the next issue of the 
< ! EOLOGIST. 
The age of the Comanche Series. The Ninth Annual Report of 
the U. S. Geological Survey announces that Dr. C. A. White has 
been continuing his investigations into the Comanche series, "the 
age of which he determined last year." To one like the writer 
who has been studying these rocks for many years for the purpose 
-of ascertaining their age, the announcement of l>r. White's detei 
