also be rigidly subject to such rules of priority as might be determined on for generic or specific names? No answer, 4. Yes, II. XXIV. Should or should not absolute certainty of identification be required before it be permissible to reject a modern and generally adopted name in favor of a prior but uncurrent designation? Yes, 38. Doubtful, 2. No answer, 5. Note. Many of the old descriptions of species sufficient for identification when few species were known, are entirely insufficient at the present day to distinguish between allied species. Should, therefore, a modern specific name with a recognizable description be made to yield to an older name unless the identification can be made beyond any cavil? XXV. Is it desirable to adopt any classification of periodical literature by which certain exclusive channels for publication of descriptive papers in natural history shall be designated for use by authors who desire to secure the rights of priority for new names proposed by them? No, 26. Desirable but impracticable, 9. Yes, 8. No answer, 2. Note.-An affirmative answer will imply that names which may be proposed through other than the designated channels, after the latter shall have been decided upon, shall not be entitled to recognition in questions of priority. XXVI. Is it desirable to adopt any analogous rule in relation to the character or extent of distribution of any independent publication or pamphlet to which it must conform, on pain of losing its right to recognition? No, 21. Desirable but impracticable, 10. Yes, 14. Note. If the answer to either or both of the two preceding ques tions be affirmative, a note specifying the nature of the proposed classification or restrictions may be appended to this list. XXVII. Should a series of rules be recommended for adoption by the Association, would you be guided by these recommendations in cases where they might not agree with your own preferences? Yes, 29. Yes, with reservations, 15. No, I. LIST OF NATURALISTS FROM WHOM REPLIES TO THE CIRCULAR HAVE BEEN RECEIVED. J. A. Allen, Museum of Comparative Zoology. W. G. Binney, Burlington, N. J. Richard Bliss, Jr., Cambridge, Mass. Dr. Thomas M. Brewer, Boston Society of Natural History. Dr. P. P. Carpenter, McGill University. S. F. Clark, Johns Hopkins University. T. A. Conrad, Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. Dr. J. G. Cooper, California. Prof. E. D. Cope, Philadelphia. W. H. Dall, Smithsonian Institution. Dr. J. W. Dawson, McGill University. S. W. Garman, Museum of Comparative Zoology. Dr. Asa Gray, Harvard University. A. R. Grote, Buffalo Academy of Sciences. Dr. Herman Hagen, Museum Comparative Zoology. Dr. Geo. H. Horn, Philadelphia. Prof. Alpheus Hyatt, Boston Society of Natural History. W. P. James, Cincinnati, Ohio. Prof. D. S. Jordan, Indiana. Dr. J. L. LeConte, Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. Theodore Lyman, Museum of Comparative Zoölogy. S. A. Miller, Cincinnati, Ohio. Dr. A. S. Packard, Jr., Peabody Academy of Sciences. Prof. N. S. Shaler, State Geologist of Kentucky. Herman Strecker, Reading, Pa. Prof. Cyrus Thomas, U. S. Entomological Commission. Geo. W. Tryon, Jr., Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. P. R. Uhler, Peabody Institute, Baltimore. Sereno Watson, Harvard University. Dr. C. A. White, U. S. Survey of the Territories. J. F. Whiteaves, Palæontologist to the Canadian Geol. Survey. Prof. R. P. Whitfield, Amer. Museum of Natural Hist., N. Y. Dr. H. C. Yarrow, United States Army. Two accidentally unsigned. THE ANCIENT PUEBLOS, OR THE RUINS OF THE VALLEY OF THE RIO SAN JUAN1 A$ BY EDWIN A. BARBER. PART I. S early as the sixteenth century, about the year fifteen hundred and thirty-nine (1539), some of the deserted cities of a pre-historic people (which have since been found to be so numerous all through a portion of the Pacific slope of North America, were observed by several of the Spanish expeditions which had penetrated into the country north of Mexico, known then under the general name of New Mexico, including the present Territory of Arizona. Many of the towns of this section were at that early date found to be in ruins, presenting every indication of a great antiquity; while others, which now lie mouldering in the cañons of the far west, were found by these old explorers, at that time, to be occupied. The course of the Spaniards, headed by Coronado and others, lay to the south of the San Juan river, passing through the valley of the Rio Grande del Norte, on the Atlantic slope, the seat of the so-called Pueblo Indians, and westward through Zuñi, then known as Cibola, and so on to the ancient province of Tusayan, or our modern Moqui, on the Pacific or western slope of the Rocky mountains. Until the past year or so, however, the great stretch of country lying west of the Range, including portions of Southern Colorado and Utah, and much of Arizona and New Mexico, was entirely or almost unknown. Our only knowledge of it consisted in the inconclusive and contradictory reports of expeditions or individuals which had crossed the borders of the ancient domains; and from their casual discoveries we were made aware of the existence of a multitude of ruins which extended as tar north as the thirty-eighth degree of latitude. Unsatisfactory as this information was, it served to arouse a latent interest and to create a thirst for more facts among cultured circles, and opened a new and vast field for scientific research. During the summer of 1874 a pioneer corps was sent out by Prof. F. V. Hayden, of the United States Geological Survey, to photograph any ancient structures which might be discovered in South-western Colorado and South-eastern Utah, thus preparing the way, as it were, for a 1Extracts from a paper written by the author and read before the Congrés des Américanistes, at Luxembourg, in September, 1877, with additions. more thorough exploration of this country during the next season. The results of this expedition were so flattering, and the report of the photographist, Mr. Wm. H. Jackson, so full of interest, enthusiasm and valuable information, that several parties were ordered to the field in the summer of 1875. In passing through this portion of the west, the traveler is first impressed with the great extent of the territory over which the ancient remains occur. Generally speaking, they occupy the great valleys drained by the San Juan river and its tributaries, the Rio Grande del Norte, and the Colorado of the west, covering an area of probably 200,000 square miles. The communities, it is evident, sprung up along the banks and valleys of the once well-watered streams, and as many of these are now entirely dry, this fact would suggest the idea that the entire character of the country has undergone a great physical change. A calculation as to the time required to effect such an alteration might assist us in arriving at the approximate age of these remains. On further investigation, it will be discovered that not only the larger water-supplies have failed since these structures were occupied, but the lesser ones also, in the form of springs, reservoirs and lakes; because in the majority of instances to-day, not a drop of moisture exists within a radius of twenty-five or thirty miles from many of the more important ruined villages. The entire country must at one time, and during the prosperity of the race, have been well-watered and fertile. The beds of the parched flood-washes must formerly at times have conveyed the waters of overflowing torrents, as everything yet indicates, and the valleys were productive of corn and the indigenous vegetables, for the very farms and corn-fields are still traceable in the riverbottoms, laid out in rectangles, and well defined by the dense growth of a hardy species of Helianthus. A great blight must have swept over the land, scorching and parching every green thing, and lapping up every particle of moisture, transforming the luxuriant valleys into deserts of rocks and sand. The ruined buildings of this portion of the west may be arranged under two general heads: First, Valley Remains; Second, Cliff Houses. The former class consists of those which were built on level ground, either in the river-bottoms or at the feet of ravines and cañons; and these may be subdivided into two classes: First, Pueblos or towns, and secondly, Defensive structures. Valley ruins were by far the most extensive, sometimes covering miles of bottom land, in an almost unbroken series of huge buildings, but they were not nearly so numerous as the cliff houses. The ancient tribe or tribes congregated together along the watercourses for sociability (man being a gregarious animal) and for mutual protection. The cliff-houses are of three sorts: First, dwellings; secondly, watch-towers; and, thirdly, caches or store-houses. These were built among the sandstone bluffs and crags of the cañons; at every altitude and in every conceivable position. From the base of an almost vertical wall, up to the very summit of the mésa, a distance, sometimes of over a thousand feet, these human eyries are perceivable, perched sometimes on almost or quite inaccessible shelves, or on the very pinnacle of some isolated bowlder, whose sides look down perpendicularly for hundreds of feet. In every imaginable condition of location, they existed and the beholder is impressed with a feeling of awe, in simply gazing on the works of the intrepid architects; on the places where human beings once dwelt; places which now are wholly out of reach of the explorer. The walls of the buildings are sometimes built along the ledges of rock, on the horizontal foot-holds which occur among the cliffs; but far more frequently, the natural caves and hollows (formed by the erosion of the atmosphere) were converted into dwelling places. One of the most noticeable features of all of these cliff-structures, was the evident desire on the part of their proprietors to conceal them from view, and this is shown in the prevailing custom of building in secluded spots, and in imitating, as accurately as possible, in the architecture, the general appearance of the surrounding rocks. In many cases, indeed, this simulation of texture and color has been rendered so perfect, that the ruins are entirely over-looked, unless brought to view through a fieldglass. Clearly, then, there must have been a cause for these precautions. The empire was invaded by a foreign foe, and the people gradually forced southward; fleeing to the rocks at first, for refuge, but finally retiring before the advance of a powerful and cruel enemy. This fact is made more evident by the presence of great numbers of arrow-points and war-like weapons, in the |