HARDWICKE'S SC IENCE - GOSSIP. 



91 



surrounding atmosphere. When the blocks are 

 broken, the interior shows beautiful casts of the 

 scales." The fossil teeth are much larger than the 

 recent; whereas the latter are barely an inch in 

 length, the former measure from two to three 

 inches long. Here is another instance of a persist- 

 ent type co-existent with the giant saurians, living 

 on through countless ages, and now represented 

 only by a diminutive species; true to the tooth in 

 form and peculiar structure, but greatly diminished 

 in size. But for the unexpected discovery of this 

 curious living fish, we might have considered the 

 singular fossil teeth extinct, and remained in igno- 

 rance as to their relative position and superstruc- 

 ture. The above measurements and quotations are 

 extracted from an illustrated paper on Ceratodus 

 Forsteri, by W. W. Stoddart, F.G.S., F.L.S., pub- 

 lished in the "Proceedings of the Bristol Natural- 

 ists' Society," vol. i., part ii., 1S7I-5, where further 

 information can be had. If any of your correspon- 

 dents are wishing to know more of this most 

 interesting animal, and have not access to the 

 above book, and canuot experience the pleasure I 

 did of seeing the fossil teeth shown and explained 

 in juxtaposition with the recent stuffed specimen 

 caught in Mary River, Queensland, I shall be 

 happy to lend them the volume (name and address 

 can be given in the exchange list of Science- 

 Gossip if desired). The exhibition of these 

 invaluable fossil Ceratodus teeth in the Bristol 

 Museum is made still more interesting by a printed 

 notice explaining their relation to, and discovery of, 

 the stuffed fish, C. Forsteri, close by. This example 

 is worthy of emulation. — G. S. 



Evidence of a Carnivorous Reptile {Cijno- 

 drakon major, Ow.) about the size of a Lion. 

 — At one of the recent meetings of the Geological 

 Society, a paper on this subject was read by Pro- 

 fessor Owen. The specimens described consist of 

 the fore part of the jaws and the left humerus of a 

 reptile obtained from blocks of probably Triassic 

 rock from South Africa, forwarded by the late Mr. 

 A. G. Bain, F.G.S. The upper jaw displays a pair 

 of enormous canine teeth, much resembling those 

 of Machairodus, being of a very compressed form, 

 with the hinder trenchant margin minutely toothed. 

 These is no dentated border to the fore part of the 

 crown. No teeth can be detected in the alveolar 

 border of the right ramus of the lower jaw, which 

 extends about an inch behihd the upper canine. In 

 the symphysial parts of the lower jaw the bases of 

 eight incisors and of two canines are visible, the 

 latter rising immediately in front of the upper oues, 

 to which they are very inferior in size, and being 

 separated by a diastema from the incisors. In this 

 character, as in the number of incisors, the fossil 

 resembles Didelphys ; and in structure both canines 

 and incisors resemble those of carnivorous mam- 



mals. The left humerus is 10£ inches long, but is 

 abraded at both extremities. It presents characters 

 in the ridges for muscular attachment, in the pro- 

 vision for the rotation of the forearm, and in the 

 presence of a strong bony bridge for the protection 

 of the main artery and nerve of the forearm during 

 the action of the muscles, which resemble those 

 occurring in carnivorous mammals, and especially 

 in the Felidse, although these peculiarities are 

 associated with others having no mammalian 

 resemblances. The author discusses these charac- 

 ters in detail, and indicates that there is in the 

 probably Triassic lacustrine deposits of South 

 Africa a whole group of genera {Galesaunis, Cyno- 

 champsa, Lycosaurus, Tigrisuchus, Cynosuchus, Ny- 

 thosaurus, Scaloposaurus, Frocolophon, Gorgonops, 

 and CynodraJcon), many of them represented by 

 more than one species, all carnivorous, and pre- 

 senting more or less mammalian analogies, for 

 which he proposes to form a distinct order under 

 the name of Theriodontia. The author further 

 discussed in some detail the remarkable resem- 

 blances presented by these early reptiles, in some 

 parts of their organization, to mammals, and 

 referred to the broad questions opened out by their 

 consideration. He inquired whether the transfer- 

 ence of structures from the reptilian to themamma- 

 liau type has been a seeming one, due to accidental 

 coincidence in species independently created, or 

 whether it was real, consequent on the incoming of 

 species by secondary law. In any case the lost 

 reptilian structures dealt with in the present paper 

 are now manifested by quadrupeds with a higher 

 condition of cerebral, circulatory, respiratory, and 

 tegumentary systems, the acquisition of which, the 

 author thought, is not intelligible on either the 

 Lamarckian or Darwinian hypotheses. 



Antiquity of the North American Indians. 

 — Dr. C. C. Abbott, a frequent contributor to this 

 journal, has an article in the February number of 

 the American Naturalist on this interesting subject. 

 Dr. Abbott has for years past devoted his attention 

 to Indian pre-historic relics, and this article is a 

 summary of his conclusions. He thinks that only 

 comparative antiquity can be determined as to the 

 Red men, there being no starting-point from which 

 to begin a positive calculation. Although he 

 believes the Indian races to have held possession 

 of America for nearly forty centuries, he shows 

 that they were preceded by an older race, similar 

 in many respects to the Palaeolithic meu, who were 

 displaced by the original Indians. 



Characteristic British Fossils.— Undoubt- 

 edly one of the best and cheapest books of its kind 

 recently published is "Figures of Characteristic 

 British Fossils," with descriptive remarks, by Mr. 

 1Y. H. Baily, F.L.S., F.G.S., the acting palseon- 



