304 ANNUAL EECOKD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



extinct peccary, and now Mr. J. A. Allen describes from the 

 same collection a deer, under the name of Cervus Whitiieyi, 

 and a wolf, with the appellation Canis Mississippie7isis. 

 Nearly all these remains belong to extinct mammals and to 

 the fauna immediately preceding the present. Amer. Jour, 

 of Science and Arts, January, 1876. 



rEOBABLE EXTINCTION OF THE ELEPHANT. 



M. Hayaux du Tilly states that England alone imported 

 annually 1,200,000 pounds of ivory, and to obtain this quan- 

 tity it was necessary to kill annually 30,000 elephants, and 

 the ivory supply of the whole world probably caused the 

 destruction of 100,000 elephants annually, and, as females 

 and males were killed indiscriminately, this animal would 

 soon become extinct. American Naturalist, November, l^'JQ. 



A NEW CALIFOENIAN DEER. 



A very pronounced variety of the mule-deer ( Cervus ma- 

 crotis) has been discovered by Judge Caton in the Sierra 

 Nevada Range. It differs from the ordinary mule - deer 

 chiefly in the markings of the tail, a dark line extending 

 down the upper side of the tail uniting with the black tuft 

 at the end, while the tail of the normal mule-deer is entirely 

 white except a dark tuft of long hairs at the extremity. 

 American Naturalist, August, 1876. 



A NEW POEPOISE IN NEW YORK BAY. 



Under the name oi Phocmna lineata Professor Cope de- 

 scribes a new species of porpoise which was taken in the 

 harbor of New York not many months ago, and sent to the 

 Smithsonian Institution. Under the direction of Professor 

 Baird, a plaster cast of the animal was made and colored 

 directly from the specimen, with the excellent result of of- 

 fering a means of study more reliable than the dried skin, 

 where the form is likely to be distorted from various causes, 

 and the color changed by the action of the oil. Proc. Acad. 

 Nat. Sci., Philadelphia, 1876. 



COLORING MATTER OP THE EGGS OF BIRDS. 



Mr. H. C. Sorby, who has distinguished himself by his 

 spectroscopic and chemical investigation of the coloring 



