18<s9.] natural sciences of philadelphia. 29 



February 5. 



Mr. Charles Morris in the chair. 



Thirty-two persons present. 



Messrs Joseph Leidy, J. P. Lesley, Persifor Frazer, Angelo Heil- 

 prin and W. B. Scott were elected to constitute the Committee on 

 the Hayden Memorial Geological Award. 



February 12. 

 Mr. Wm. W. Jefferis in the chair. 

 Seventeen persons present. 

 The following papers were presented for publication : — 



"New Species of Shells from New Hebrides." By W. D. Hart- 

 man, M. D. 



" Note on Elagastis bipinnulatus." By Seth E. Meek and Charles 

 H. Bollman. 



February 19. 



The President, Dr. Joseph Leidy, in the chair. 



Sixteen persons present. 



The Sabre-tooth Tiger of Florida. — Prof. Leidy directed at- 

 tention to a specimen recently received from our fellow member, 

 Joseph Willcox, now in Florida. Mr. Willcox writes that he found 

 it in a limestone quarry and that it appeared to him to possess some 

 interest. This it certainly does, as it proves to be the skull of that 

 most formidable of felines, the extinct Sabre-tooth Tiger, variously 

 described under the names of Drepanodon, Machairodus and Smil- 

 odon. The specimen consists of the nearly complete cranium with 

 the greater portion of one side of the face, which has lost the teeth 

 but retains all the alveoli. Of the molar teeth the first and last of 

 the series had been shed and the alveoli obliterated. The skull in- 

 dicates an animal approximating in size the existing Tiger and 

 Lion. It also approximates in size that of Machairodus neogaeus 

 of South America, than which it is rather more than an inch less in 

 length, breadth and depth. It exhibits other slight differences, but 

 all may be only of varietal or even individual significance. Ee- 

 garding the specimen as indicating a distinct variety or species it 

 may be named Drepandon, or Machairodus floridanus. Its 



