162 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 



And the following for publication in the Proceedings : Description 

 of a new genus of Salarianae, by Theo. Gill. 

 And were referred to Committees. 



Dr. Leidy directed the attention of the Academy to a number of interesting 

 fossils left by Prof. Emmons for the inspection of the members. 



One of the specimens is the ramus of a lower jaw of a small insectivorous 

 mammal. The Dromatherium sylvestre Emmons, from the coal of 

 Chatham Co., N. C. It is of very great interest, as being the oldest known relic 

 of a mammal. A second specimen, less well preserved, is presented this 

 evening to the Academy by Prof. Emmons. 



Other fossils consist of teeth, vertebrae, and fragments of other bones of 

 Clepsysaurus, Rutiodon and Palseosaurus, also from Chatham 

 Co., N. C. 



There is also a good suite of the curious subsilurian fossil Palaeotrochus, 

 of which some of the specimens are detached, while others are imbedded in the 

 quartzose rock. 



Dr. L. further noticed a very large tooth, much mutilated and black in color, 

 which was discovered by Prof. Emmons, in association with ear bones of 

 cetacea. in the miocene deposits of North Carolina. The tooth probably also 

 belongs to a cetacean, for which the name of Ontocetus Emmonsi is 

 proposed. 



The tooth is curved conical, and is compressed and fluted laterally. In its 

 perfect condition it has been over ten inches in length, by about four inches in 

 its greater diameter, and two and a half inches wide. It is composed of dentine, 

 with an exterior comparatively thin layer of cement, and an interior compara- 

 tively large amount of osteo-dentine. The specimen appears to have lain 

 long exposed to the attacks of living mollusks at the bottom of the miocene 

 ocean, as it exhibits a number of excavations made by pholades or other allied 

 genera. 



Professor Emmons, at the meeting of May 2^th, remarked that the debitu- 

 menization of coal ws effected through the agency of heat, but he does not 

 think that the debilumenization of anthracite is due to heat emanating from 

 an incandescent body, whether that body be injected trap or other pyrocrys- 

 talline rocks. In his opinion the heat which debitumenized the coal of the 

 anthracite region was disengaged or generated by the collision of the rocks 

 enclosing it at the time of their upheaval. In support of this view he referred 

 to the correlation of forces the equivalent of heat, etc. and stated he found 

 by experiment, a year ago, that the volatile matter of the bitumenous slates of 

 North Carolina began to come off at 350, and that it was all driven off para- 

 phine, and all about 608. Hence he inferred that coals are debitumenized at 

 low temperatures, and that intense ignition is not required. 



Professor Rogers objected to these views, and suggested that the non-con- 

 ducting property of the rocks was an obstacle to the theory. 



Mr. Lea, in accordance with a request made at a previous meeting, 

 read the following notice of the late Alexander von Humboldt: 



When one of the great luminaries of the scientific world has passed away, it 

 is usual to take some notice of the loss sustained by those who were accustom- 

 ed to benefit by the labors and instruction of the departed philosopher. It is 

 rarely, very rarely, that science has been deprived of a mind so rich in various 

 branches of human knowledge, as that of Alexander Von Humboldt, a native 

 of Prussia, but belonging to the whole world of civilization. In what town or 

 hamlet, where the European languages are understood, has not his name been 

 familiar? Where has he not imparted new ideas to the inquiring mind? 



Born in 1769, a year remarkable for the biith of many of the most distin- 



[June, 



