NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 201 



March 18. 



The President, Dr. Ruschenberger, in the chair. 



Twentj'-six members present. 



The following paper was presented for publication : 

 Description of a new variety of Buteo. By Bernard A. Hoopes 



Remarks on the Occurrence of an Extinct Hog in America. 

 Prof Leidy exhibited the fragment of a lower jaw of a pig which 

 Prof. Hayden had picked up, together with many remains of ex- 

 tinct mammals, in the pliocene sands of the Niobrara River, 

 Nebraska. The specimen contains the temporary molars, and 

 does not diflfer anatomicallj^ from the corresponding part of the 

 domestic pig. It is heavier than usual, and appears to have un- 

 dergone some alteration, perhaps by the partial replacement of a 

 portion of its bone cartilage by mineral matter. The specimen 

 he viewed as of recent character, and not as a true indigenous 

 fossil. Prof L. remarked that he had never seen any remains of 

 the hog which he could confidently view as true American fossils. 

 Rafinesque, DeBlainville, Holmes, and Emmons had reported and 

 represented specimens as American fossils, but he doubted their 

 character as such. He had seen the specimens of Emmons, re- 

 puted to be from the miocene of N. Carolina, and those of Holmes, 

 from the shores of the Ashley River, S. C, and felt convinced 

 they were of recent date. Prof. Cope has recently reported the 

 discovery of the tooth of a hog in New Jersey, M'hich he has re- 

 ferred to an extinct species with the name of Sus vagram^. He 

 had not seen the specimen, but was inclined to suspect it would 

 turn out to belong to the same category as the former ones. 



Prof. Cope mentioned that Prof W. C. Kerr, State Geologist 

 of North Carolina, had submitted to his examination an entire 

 cranium with other bones of a hog said to have been taken from 

 the Miocene marl of Wilson County, North Carolina, at a depth 

 of ten feet from its surfitce, or sixteen feet from the surface of the 

 ground. The skull was partially, at least, filled with this matrix. 

 The bone was not silicified, and though there were but two pre- 

 maxillary teeth, and the canines were small, he thought that it 

 belonged to a sow Sus scropha. 



Prof. Cope further stated that Dr. Hayden handed to him for 

 determination some bones on a fragment of the Green River shale 

 of the Eocene of Wyoming. They indicated a species of Anou- 

 rous Batrachian, but, as the individuals were not fully developed, 

 he was not prepared to identify the genus. They constituted the 



