G. GENERAL NATURAL HISTORY AND ZOOLOGY. 309 



cartilaginous fishes a less number than osseous. The latter 

 will average from '700,000 to 2,000,000 ; the former from 

 140,000 to 230,000. The number, therefore, decreases as the 

 animal is lower in the scale, while the size increases. But 

 the inverse proportion of the one to the other is not constant, 

 since, for example, the llama and the dromedary have larger 

 corpuscles than man, and more of them. So in the case of 

 birds, the corpuscles gain more by the increase in their vol- 

 ume than they lose by the diminution in number. 



NEW BONE CAVE. 



A bone cavern has lately been found in the cliffs to the 

 southw^est of the Bay of Kirkcudbright, on the coast of Scot- 

 land, which has been thoroughly explored, with the result of 

 brin^ins: to lig:ht numerous frao-ments of animals, such as the 

 ox, red deer, goat, pig, horse, pine-marten, etc. Intermingled 

 Avith them were fragments of bronze inplements,bone needles, 

 and other bone implements. A single piece only of wrought 

 stone has been found, and, so far, no flint implements of any 

 kind. 



NEW VEETEBRATE FOSSILS. 



Wonderful as have been the discoveries of extinct verte- 

 brate life in the tertiary and cretaceous deposits of the West, 

 the developments made in Colorado during the summer of 

 1873, by the expedition of Professor Hayden, appear to be 

 the most marvelous of all ; the species found being not only 

 numerous, but entirely peculiar to the region, and, with 

 scarcely an exception, new to science. In several papers 

 lately published by Professor Cope, we find descriptions of 

 no less than fifty-three species of mammals, five of serpents, 

 seven of saurians, and four of tortoises ; and it is believed 

 that a careful study of the immense collections made will 

 ultimately reveal double this number. The precise locality 

 and its exact geological position have not been announced, 

 but will doubtless be given in a detailed account which will 

 accompany Professor Hayden's report. 



The bed was discovered by Mr. James Stevenson, of Pro- 

 fessor Hayden's party, and the exploration was made by Pro- 

 fessor Cope, under its auspices. 12 yl, 1873, 394. 



