404 Description of a Saurian found in Kansas — Cragin. 
bertsoni M. & H, Lunatia concinna M. & H. Announcements 
have already been made of the occurrence in the drift o£ Iowa 
beyond the limits o£ known Mesozoic strata in situ of Creta- 
ceous fossils and fossiliferous sandstone. Dr. White has re- 
ported an ammonite from Waterloo, Iowa, a fragment of bac- 
culite from Iowa City* and six specifically determinable forms 
from Hardin countyf and he has shown that the facies of the 
fossils in question has a close aifinity with the fauna of the 
Fox Hills group, or the uppermost portion of the marine Cre- 
taceous of the continental interior. The recently discovered 
Des Moines specimens afford additional evidence in support 
of this supposition. The good preservation of the moUuscan 
remains though so fragile, together with the fact of the com- 
parative softness of the ferruginous sandstone, suggests as in 
the other instances mentioned, that the fragments of cretaceous 
strata are not far removed from the locality of original deposi- 
tion. The satisfactory determination of the eastern extension 
of the Cretaceous in Iowa is attended with much difficulty, 
chiefly on account of the great depth of the drift, covering 
north- westerrx portion of the state, but doubtless outliers will be 
discovered considerably to the eastward of the present ascribed 
limits. 
PRELIMINARY DESCRIPTION OF A NEW OR LITTLE 
KNOWN SAURIAN FROM THE BENTON OF KANSAS. 
By p. W. Ckagin. 
The saurian here described was found in Osborne county, 
Kansas, in limestone of the lower part of the Benton, a few 
feet below the base of the dark septaria-bearing shale. 
It exhibits all of the essential features of the order Saurop- 
tenjgia^ being, in fine, a short-necked plesiosauroid, with long 
and narrow paddles consisting proximally of three bones abutting 
against three distinct facets of the humerus or femur, in the 
latter character resembling the genus, Beptanodon. 
If not identical with the Pirotosaurus of Leidy, which is 
known by but a single tooth not now available for comparison, 
it represents a new genus and species, for which I propose 
*Geol. Iowa Vol. I, p. 98. Also Proc. Am. Ass. Ad. Sci. Vol. XXI. pp. 187-192. 
tAm. Geol. Vol. I., p. 223. 
