1g2 The American Geologist. March, 1902 
others, but these were the first specimens described which settled the 
question. 
Professor Whitfield’s second paper described a new Teredo-like 
shell from the Laramie group of eastern Wyoming, collected by Mr. 
Barnum Brown of the American Museum. This Teredo, to which the 
author has given the name Xylophomya laramiensis, is more than an 
inch in diameter, thus ranking with the largest species of the family 
known. 
These two papers may be found in full in the current volume of 
the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 
Professor James Douglas gave a description, illustrated by topo- 
graphic map and numerous lantern slides, of the famous Rio Tinto 
group of the copper mines of the Huelva district in Spain. These 
mines have been worked from time immemorial, the earliest knowledge 
of them dating from the Phoenicians, who occupied the country in 
the eleventh century B. C. The Romans also obtained a large amount 
of copper from these deposits, and it is an interesting fact that the 
slags which they left are purer, that is, freer from copper, than those 
which are made there today. The ore is a copper-bearing pyrite, 
carrying some silica. The copper-bearing portions run irregularly 
through the iron pyrites, and the Rio Tinto Company has removed 
millions of tons of forty-two per cent iron ore in getting at its copper 
ore. The iron ore is not profitable at the present time, although it 
may become so in the distant future. There are some remains of the 
workings of the ancients here. At Tharsis in particular the old 
shafts are very peculiarly constructed, one at least being spiral to en- 
able the miners to carry the ore on their backs. Shelves are excavated 
at intervals in the walls of the shaft to enable the men to rest their 
loads-on their weary journey to the surface. 
The mines are worked now as open air diggings in circular ter- 
races. They produce about two million tons of ore per year, and it is 
estimated that there are one-hundred and sixty million tons in sight. 
Some silver-bearing galena is associated with the copper ore. The old- 
fashioned method of roasting the ore in heaps was kept up until 1893, 
but the ore is now leached by means of water. This is a long process, 
requiring four years for its thorough completion, but the copper fs 
leached out so that less than one-fourth of one per cent is left in the 
tailings. The great bulk of the world’s supply of sulphuric acid is 
obtained from the Rio Tinto pyrite, which is shipped all over the world 
for the purpose of manufacturing the acid. Five hundred thousand 
tons per year are utilized in this way. 
The paper was discussed by Dr. Julien and Mr. Howe, and the 
section passed a hearty vote of thanks to Professor Douglas for his 
kindness in giving the paper. 
February 17, Dr. O, P. Hay read a paper on the Snoutfishes ot 
Kansas. In this paper the author presented a brief history of our 
knowledge of the genus Protosphyrzna, and a statement showing what 
