200 



[November,, 



The collection contains bones of the following animals : 



Megalonyx Jeffersonii, Harlan. 



a. Two tibial diaphyses of the left side of young individuals. 

 h. A vertebra dentata. 



c. A. fragment of an os calcis. 



d. A metacarpal and a metatarsal bone. 



e. An ungual phalanx. 



Bison Americanus? (fossilis).* 



a. A fragment of a cervical vertebra. 



Cervus Virginianus (fossilis). 



a. Proximal half of a tibia. 



b. Distal half of a tibia. 



e. Proximal half of a metacarpal bone. 



d. Proximal and distal halves of two metatarsal bones. 



e. Portions of two scapula?. 



/. Proximal portion of a first rib. 



g. The mutilated cranium of a doe. 



h. The superior portion of the cranium of a buck ; the antlers having been 

 shed. 



i. Three portions of as many lower jaws of different ages. One contains the 

 back five molars very much worn away ; a second contains the last two molars 

 a little worn; and the third contains all the molars, but the last temporary one 

 has not been shed, nor is the last true one protruded. All these specimens cor- 

 respond in size with the same parts of large individuals of the existing Certnis 

 virginianus, and have the same form ; and they probably belonged to the same 

 species. Besides these specimens, fossil bones of a deer not larger than the 

 Cervus virginianus have been found in association with bones of the Megalonyx, 

 Mastodon, &c, in the vicinity of Natchez, Mississippi. In the cabinet of the 

 Academy there are several specimens from this locality, consisting of a portion 

 of a lower jaw, a fragment of an antler, and the posterior and inferior portions 

 of two crania. 



Eqtjus Americanus, Leidy. 

 a. The last dorsal vertebra. 



Tapirus. 



a. An inferior back molar tooth of an old individual. The crown is much 

 worn and the fangs are long, spreading, and thickened. It is larger than in the 

 recent Tapir americanus, and belongs to the supposed extinct species which I 

 have designated as Tapirus Hay sit. 



Canis prim-Evus, Leidy. 



This name is proposed for a species of wolf, which I suppose to be indicated 

 by a specimen, in Mr. Lincke's collection, of a left upper maxillary bone con- 

 taining the posterior five molars, all of which are nearly entire except the 

 penultimate one. The fragment, however, only differs from the corresponding 

 part of the recent Canis lupus of Europe and its American congeners, in being 

 rather larger (about one sixth), and in its having slight variations in several of 

 the molar teeth. Certain naturalists may regard the fossil as an indication of a 

 variety only of the Canis lupus, and of the correctness of such a view I shall 

 not attempt to decide. Naturalists have not yet settled among themselves the 

 question of how far characters of a specific value may be obtained from the 

 skulls and teeth of many genera. Most naturalists regard the Canis lupus, of 

 Europe, and the Canis oceidentalis and many other wolves of America as of the 

 same species. Certainly they possess no important osteological differences, but 

 the same may be said of the grizzly bear, the polar bear, and the brown bear, or 

 of the horse, the ass, and the zebra, or of the lion, the tiger, and the panther, 

 etc., etc. Those who have attempted to define a species, I think, have gene- 



