The absence in the Triassic rocks of the peculiar markings that are made in soft mud when it freezes, and which are as capable of being preserved as are rain-drop impressions or footprints, is another although a negative indication that there was a mild climate in the Eastern States during the Triassic period.

Then, too, there was not a "paucity of animal life" in Triassic days, as thousands of footprints show; the waters of the estuary were also inhabited by immense numbers of fishes, some of them of considerable size. As to the absence of molluscan life owing to the coldness of the waters, we know that many species of Arctic shells are found in the mud at the foot of the glaciers that terminate in the sea in high latitudes, and that the same and allied species are found in the glacial clays both of Europe and America, thus showing that the presence of ice could not account for the absence of molluscan remains in the Triassic formation. The absence of shells in these rocks seems due to the fact, long since pointed out by Sir H. De la Beche,1 that animals which live on the sea bottom cannot exist upon a bottom of red mud, and that the presence of peroxide of iron in the waters is fatal to animal life; the presence of peroxide of iron in the rocks will also promote the rapid decomposition of such organic remains as may become imbedded in them. All who have wandered along the shores of the Bay of Fundy, where the bottom is composed of red mud, will remember how destitute they are in mollusks, radiates and crustaceans, the waters are inhabited, however, by great numbers of fishes, belonging, I believe, to a limited number of species. Thus in almost every particular, the study of the present condition of the Bay of Fundy furnishes us with the key with which to unlock the history of the Triassic formation.

The information added by the papers of Mr. Heinrich and Prof. Fontaine, tends to confirm the conclusion that the Triassic rocks in the Atlantic States were formed in one estuary, in the northern end of which sandstone and shales were deposited, being subjected to a greater subsidence than the southern extremity, where the shores were low and favorable for the accumulation of carbonaceous mud and peat.

As the determination of the age of the rocks in question from the fossil plants they contain, has led to widely varying results,

1 Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, Vol. 1, p. 51.

we have continued to call them Triassic. If the view here presented of their former extent is sustained, it is evident that the separate members are of one age, differing in their lithology and fossils according to the various conditions under which they were deposited.

NOTE.-Although the conclusions given in my former paper were arrived at independently, I find that the same explanation of the dip of the rocks has presented itself to others. Prof. Hitchcock in his work on the "Ichnology of Massachusetts,” p. 14, in speaking of the opposite dip of the beds in New Jersey and the Connecticut valley, says, "It looks rather as if an anticlinal axis or elevation between them, had been concerned in the tilting of both." Prof. Kerr, in his report on the geology of North Carolina, page 141, accounts for the separation of the Deep and Dan river Triassic areas by the upheaval of the region lying between, and the removal of the Triassic beds by denudation, the parts remaining are the fringing portions of a great anticlinal. Prof. Bradley, in an article "On the Geological Chart of the United States east of the Rocky mountains" (Amer. Jour. Sci., Vol. XII, p. 289), favors Prof. Kerr's conclusion and suggests that the numerous trap dikes intersecting the metamorphic rocks of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama, may belong to the Triassic series and indicate the former extension of this formation southward; the dip of the beds in New Jersey and the Connecticut valley also attracted his attention and suggested the former connection of these two

areas.

:0:

NOTES ON STONE IMPLEMENTS FOUND IN NEW

THE

JERSEY.

BY CHAS. C. ABBOTT, M.D.

HE recent article by Prof. Perkins in the January NATURALIST1 suggests the propriety of my making a brief reference to certain forms of stone implements which have been found in New Jersey since the date of the publication of the Smithsonian Annual Report for 1875; and particularly to the occurrence of such

1 Archæology of the Champlain valley. By Prof. Geo. H. Perkins.

2 January, 1877. It may be well to state that the MSS. of my paper was completed in Dec., 1873, and during the six years ensuing, I have gathered fully twelve thousand additional specimens. None of these are referred to in the Smithsonian Report for 1875.

as are identical with those found in Vermont, and which are supposed to be of other than " Red-skin" origin. Prominent among these are the stone tubes. The best New Jersey examples are those from near Bridgeport, Gloucester county, N. J. They are made of a drab-colored clay slate, about one inch in exterior diameter, and ten inches in length. The finish in all respects is excellent, and in every feature are they identical with those described by Prof. Perkins. These New Jersey specimens are in the cabinet of Mr. Wm. S. Vaux, of Philadelphia. Smaller examples of variegated green slate, and others of baked clay1 have been found by the writer, but none so long or so elaborately wrought as the Bridgeport specimens referred to. Excepting such as have the perforation of very small diameter, these tubes do not differ materially from the California tubular smoking pipes. Curiously enough, associated with these Bridgeport implements were found some magnificently wrought chalcedony spear-heads, remarkably similar to California specimens found in the same graves as the tubular pipes referred to. (See Plate II of Archæology of Wheeler's Survey, Vol. VII.) Interesting as the occurrence of supposed relics of the Mound-builders in Vermont certainly is, it is of greater wonderment that the California. types should occur as far distant as the Atlantic coast; unless indeed there is or was a very close connection between the several peoples of the continent. This, it seems to the writer, is highly improbable. So far as the New Jersey examples of stone implements and ornaments of extra-limital forms are concerned, the writer is disposed to refer them to the Shawnees, who at one time occupied much of the valley of the Delaware, and coming from the south-west either brought them from the neighborhoods of their distant homes, the products of their own handiwork, or were at that time even, veritable relics of a forgotten people. Whether the Shawnees were mound builders or not, need not here be discussed. Sufficient to know that they may be located wherever one finds the mounds, and 'so it would not be strange that they should copy and also preserve the relics of this supposed "pre-Indian" people.

1 Nature, Vol. XIV, p. 154, Figs. 3, 4 and 5.

2 U. S. Geog. Survey west 100th meridian: Vol. VII, Archæology, plates vu, vIII, IX. The sixteen smoking pipes here figured are not cylindrical like the Vermont and New Jersey examples, but are so far similar as to suggest identical purposes. One tube of uniform caliber I have figured and referred to as a "medicine tube," in another chapter. See the volume.

Prof. Perkins refers to the comparative rarity of grooved axes in the Champlain valley. So far as I can ascertain, they are not plentiful anywhere throughout New England, while in New Jersey and southward they are exceedingly abundant. During the years 1878 and 1879, I gathered nearly two hundred, and have certainly seen at least one thousand in the various private collections I have studied. So'numerous are these stone axes in New Jersey, that I think it within bounds to estimate one to every five hundred acres of the State's territory, as ten thousand of these implements are still lying in the ground, and probably half as many more have been already found, and are now in part preserved in public and private collections. As with arrow-points, axes are of every conceivable pattern, and, as yet, no form has been found elsewhere, to the writer's knowledge, that is not represented in New Jersey by one or more specimens. Even the South American form, wherein the groove is reduced to a deep1 notch on the upper and lower margins, is represented by two specimens found by the writer, and now in the Peabody Museum, Cambridge, Mass.

The remarkable gouge-like implements, on the other hand, are as common to New England as are the axes with us. So dissimilar, however, are the two forms, that it can scarcely be said that the one implement replaces the other. Certainly they could

not have had similar uses.

In one respect, the stone implements of Vermont may be said to be superior to those found in New Jersey. This is in the finish and fashioning of the pestles. Pestles with carved heads or any ornamentation are rarely, if ever, found with us. There utility seems to have been wholly aimed at, and, except that some are highly polished, these implements have but little to attract attention. Prof. Perkins refers to the similarity of the Vermont arrow-heads to those of the Southern States, and to a want of likeness to those found in New Jersey. The arrow-heads found here must by no means be judged by those I have figured in the Smithsonian Report. Since the issue of that volume, thousands of more delicate workmanship, and a score of other shapes have been gathered ; and I hope ere long to give figures of all these, and also of every pattern of stone implement, ornament or weapon found within the limits of the State.

1 Archivos do Mus. Nacion. do Rio de Janeiro, Vol. 1, Estampa 1, Fig. 2. Rio,

THAT

SOME NOTEWORTHY BIRDS.

BY SAMUEL LOCKWOOD, PH.D.

HAT was a memorable event in the annals of bird lore when those Arctic owls made their remarkable raid upon us in our centennial year. What it was that induced Nyctea nivea to make that visit in such numbers after the big show was closed, and the world's folk had left, may be a question. Probably the commissariat was under consideration; in which case our snowy owl had grave reasons for his coming. Winter is hardly a prime season for delicacies in the larval line, and the construction may seem awkward, yet it will bear assertion that these birds of Pallas were after grub. Though bold, Nyctea did not put on style. It was simply that sort of personal bearing which comes of innocence. In the Northern cities he even perched on chimney tops, and in rural places was familiar with men, even unto rashness. Our farmer friend, his family filling the large carry-all wagon, was on his way to church, when lo! by the road side, "a sitting on a rail," was one of these Arctic owls. No man is himself at all times, and our good friend's piety was sorely tried, for the strange bird actually ogled at him with its big brass-button eyes. He would have railed at the bird. He was on the fence what to do. It is Sunday. Shall he send Thomas back for the gun? The wife suggests they'll be late to meetin'. The bird owes his life to that good woman. In the markets of New York these owls were suspended in strings like poultry. Upon inquiry, Terence was told that they were Spanish geese. Sure then, for a goose, it has an uncommon knowing face." To many a village "birdstuffer" in the Eastern States, that winter of '76 brought a large increase of business. In not a few parlors of my acquaintance, a snowy owl became a fixture, and was pointed to as an avian prize. But our splendid bird has become unable to uphold its reputation. The tidy housewife charges it with bringing in that tiny reprobate, the clothes moth, Tinea flavifrontella, it of the yellow face, which after plucking Nivea in spots, finishes on the rep upholstery. A young friend captured one of these Arctic raiders alive. So long as he was well supplied with mice, the bird was quite good natured, and even submitted to the caresses of his master; but the young man found the demands of that hungry maw very exacting; in fact that owlish stomach was too