1854.] 89 



From the Furstlicli Jablonowskischen Gesellschaft zu Leipzig, dated 

 13th Jan., 1854 ; and from the Belfast Natural History Society, dated 

 31st Dec., 1853 ; severally transmitting donations to the Library an- 

 nounced this evening. 



From the Librarian of the Pennsylvania State Library, dated Harris- 

 burg, June 1, 1854; 



From the Trustees of the New York State Library, dated Albany, 

 May 26ib, 1854; and 



From the American Philosophical Society, dated August 20, 1854, 

 severally acknowledging the receipt of recent publications of the 

 Academy. 



From Dr. M. H. Houston, dated Wheeling, Va., May 22d, 1854, 

 presenting the Indian remains deposited in the Cabinet by Mr. Ellet, 

 through Dr. C. D. Meigs, May 16th, 1854. 



Dr. Hallowell presented for publication in the Proceedings, two papers, 

 entitled respectively, " Descriptions of New Reptiles from California ;" 

 and " On a genus and species of Serpent from Honduras, presumed to 

 be new," both of which were referred to Dr. Leidy, Dr. Le Conte, and 

 Col. McCall. 



Dr. Leidy stated that while examining some fossils he had accidentally in- 

 spected the fragment of lower jaw, supposed by Harlan to belong to an extinct 

 species of hog, the Sus americanns ; and which Prof. Owen, after an examination, 

 had considered as a new genus, Harlavus, allied to the tapiroid pachyderms, 

 when it immediately occurred to him that it belonged neither to a suiline nor a 

 tapiroid animal, but to a true ruminant, and this, the Bison latifrons. 



The form of the fragment of jaw is the same as the corresponding portion in 

 the ox, and its robustness is in relation to the size and strength of the head of 

 Bison latifrons. 



The fossil belonged to a very old individual, as indicated by the production of 

 large fangs to the teeth, and the almost entire removal of the enamelled crown 

 by trituration. 



The first of the series of true molars in the specimen exhibits two fangs of 

 dentine united by an isthmus of cementum, (see plate vi. accompanying Owen's 

 memoir, in vol. i. new series, of the Journal of this Academy.) 



In the second true molar a line of enamel yet borders the crown. The little 

 prominence in the centre of the dentinal space of the anterior lobe is the rem- 

 nant of the crescentic enamel island. The middle of the three folds on the outer 

 side, which misled Prof. Owen to suspect an affinity of the animal to Toxodon, 

 is nothing more than the remains of the robust accessory column of the molars 

 of Bison latifrons t as may be seen by comparing the specimens, or the figures in 

 Owen's plate, with the corresponding part in the figures 6 and 7 of the last molar 

 in plate ii. of my " Memoir on the Extinct Species of American Ox." 



The last molar of Bison latifrofis, indicated in the figures just mentioned, not 

 only exactly fits the corresponding space in the fragment of jaw, but the remain- 

 ing portion of tooth in the latter is of the same form and size as the correspond- 

 ing portion of the entire tooth. 



If these views be considered as correct, then the Sus americanns, or Harlanus 

 america?ius, ceases to be a distinct animal, and the fossil in question becomes a 

 portion of Bison latifrons. 



In further confirmation of these facts, a portion of a humerus and a tibia, 

 mentioned in Prof. Owen's paper, and an atlas and a metacarpal bone were dis- 

 covered by Mr. Couper, with the [fragment of jaw, and these had previously 

 been referred to Bison latifrons in my memoir above referred to. 



