G. GENERAL NATURAL HISTORY AND ZOOLOGY. 3^5 



KEW FOSSILS DISCOVERED BY PROFESSOR COPE. 



Professor Cope, under date of July 15, publishes notes of 

 some new, extinct mammalia from the tertiary deposits of 

 the Rocky Mountain region. One of these he names ^lu- 

 rodon mustelinus, an animal about the size of the domestic 

 cat. Another is the Aceratherhmi 7negalodus^ which he char- 

 acterizes as about the size of an Indian rhinoceros, but with 

 much larger teeth. In some respects it has decided relations 

 to the genus rhinoceros. 



NEW FOSSIL MAMMAL FROM PATAGONIA. 



Professor William H. Flower has communicated to the 

 Royal Society an account of a new fossil mammal from Pata- 

 gonia, obtained by Dr. Robert D. Cunningham.in deposits of 

 uncertain age on the banks of the River Gallegos. The mo- 

 lar teeth of this animal resemble those of the genus rhinoce- 

 ros, to which it would appear to be related through Hyraco- 

 don^ and it is also allied more remotely to Macrauchenia^ 

 though still more so to the JVesodon and Toxodon. The 

 animal had the complete typical number of teeth, namely, 

 twenty-two above and twenty-two below, arranged in an un- 

 broken series, and nearly of even height, presenting a re- 

 markable gradual transition in character in both jaws from 

 the first incisor to the last molar. 12 A^ July 10, 1873, 214. 



CAUSE OF MORTALITY AMONG SCOTTISH GROUSE. 



A writer in Land and Water attempts to solve the prob- 

 lem as to the unprecedented mortality among the Scottish 

 grouse during the present season, on the supposition that this 

 is due to the great amount of rain during the last autumn 

 and winter, which saturated the moors, and converted their 

 soil into a kind of pulp. This prevented the grouse from ob- 

 taining a ready access to the fine silver sand, which, in his 

 opinion, is an absolute requisite for the proper trituration in 

 the stomach, and consequent digestion of the food. He says 

 that the poor birds were driven to the banks of the streams 

 in a vain efibrt to obtain this material, where they perished 

 by hundreds, and that the water-courses in some places were 

 obstructed by their carcasses. In addition to this there was 



