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Show 218 thicker, are firm and better preserved. Tbe bones of the head were seldom found. In one iustance ( of P. ingens), I uncovered a hand, with tbe four long bones of the wing- finger, as they lay in place, and found them measuring respectively 24J inches, 20J inches, 14J inches, and 9 inches j or 5 feet 8$ inches in total length. The width of the first, as it lay compressed to one- tenth of an inch, was about 2 inches. My notebook * hows seventy- two individual specimens seen in 1875; but little more than half could be saved, much as we valued this rare fossil. In some instances, on opening a piece of chalk, the outline could be distinctly seen, but the bone crumbled to dust. In Dr. Coues's Key to North American Birds, published in 1873, Professor Marsh has given a list of the fossil birds from the Cretaceous of North America, at which time thirteen species were known, all first de- - scribed by himself., Of these, five are from the Niobrara beds of Kansas. Only one Cretaceous bird has been found in Europe. Two of oars are aquatic, allied to the cormorant; but the other three are of a new order ( Ichthyornithes), and are so anomalous as to be provided with jaws and teeth. One, Eesperornis regalis, is between 5 and 6 feet high, an aquatic diving- bird, with rudimentary wings, incapable of flight. The others, Ichthornis ( two species), are small, but with strong wings, of great powers of flight. The latter genus, in addition to its sharp enameled teeth, presented another singular feature in the vertebra, which were biconcave, of the true fish type. The bones of the legs and wings were of the usual bird structure. The first specimen of this was found by the writer, and described by Professor Marsh in the American Journal of Science, vol. iv, p. 314,* and illustrated in vol. x, p. 402. Bird-bones being exceedingly difficult in preservation, the number found is very small. The soil of this division consists of the fine, black loam, so common to the West, and is, on the high prairie, from 1 to 3 feet deep. Were rain more abundant, it would be a rich farming- region. It is a good grazing- country. The following analyses of soils, collected by S. W. Wiliston from the Smoky Hill Valley, were made by George E. Patrick, professor of chemistry in the University of Kansas. No. 1 is high-praiiie loam; No. 2 is from " bottom" lands. Neither soil had ever been cultivated. No. 2. No. 1. Water 1.895 3.449 Oipauic matter 3.039 5.224 Soluble in cold hydrochloric acid: Oxide of irou 1.503 1. / / cj? Alumina .557 .721 Lime 4.268 1.61H Magnesia 422 2.0£ 4 Potassa 214 .202 Soda 034 .002 Silicicacid 050 .023 Sulphuric acid 041 .07* ' Carbonic acid A 3.510 2.5tf7 Phosphoric acid 173 .118 Sodium chloride 003 .009 Insoluble in cold hydrochloric acid 84.247 82.127 100.000 100. 000 &.- Fort Hays division. The massive stratum of limestone above described, together with all the deposits above the saudstones of the Dakota, I . shall call the Fort Hays division. Professor Hay den, in his Final Eeport of the United States Geological Survey of Nebraska and Adjacent Territories, p. 67, says: |
