INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR 1875. cci 



tally where it is hollow and truncate. The vertebrae are as 

 large as those of the anaconda. Another genus exhibits 

 two strata of chevrons in an armature of ventral rods, the 

 angle of the upper having an opposite direction to that of 

 the lower. The gular scutoa are smooth. It was named 

 Hyphasma Icevis. An interesting addition to the fauna was 

 stated to be a new species of the horned genus Geraterpeton 

 of Huxley. The head is relatively large, and covered with 

 reticulate ridges separated by rows of impressed dots. The 

 horns are long, stout, and incurved. It is called C. puncto- 

 lineatum. 



In the course of some remarks on the Batrachians and 

 Reptiles of Florida, Professor Cope stated that this state 

 formed a distinct subdivision of the Austro-Riparian region 

 (see Gray's Atlas of the United States, 1873, for a review of 

 the geographical distribution), the evidence furnished by the 

 lower vertebrates confirming that derived from the higher 

 vertebrata and the plants. There are fifteen species of Ba- 

 trachia and Reptilia not found in any other part of North 

 America ; three of these occur in Cuba, but none elsewhere. 

 He states that Mr. Meek had recently sent to the museum 

 of the Smithsonian Institution an Elaps distans a poison- 

 ous snake which had been known previously from the So- 

 noran region only. This discovery may be associated with 

 that of the Western burrowing owl in Florida, and the fact 

 that the Floridan Ophibolus getulus presents the same num- 

 ber of rows of scales as the black and white Ophiboli of the 

 Sonoran region. 



The first fossils found (by Professor Cope while attached 

 to Wheeler's survey) in the "trias" of the Rocky Mount- 

 ains are those of fishes and reptiles. The fishes are repre- 

 sented by scales of small species, which are abundant in the 

 coprolites of the reptiles ; the latter represent the three or- 

 ders of Crocodiles, Dinosauria, and apparently of Sauropte- 

 rygia. The dinosaurian order is represented by a part of 

 the crown of a tooth of a species of large size, of the general 

 character of Lcdaps. Both faces are convex, the one more 

 so than the other, and the long axis of the crown is curved 

 toward the less convex side. Both cutting-edges are sharply 

 and closely crenate denticulate, as in Lcelaps, Aublysodon, 

 etc. ; otherwise the enamel is perfectly smooth. 



9* 



