502 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



correlation and geological ages of the various beds ; a notice- 

 able feature being the introduction of diagrammatic sketches 

 of typical local sections in the Rocky Mountain basin and the 

 Bad Lands of Nebraska and Dakota, by means of which the 

 equivalence of the various strata can be seen at a glance. 



Closely connected with the foregoing is an article in the 

 May number of The American Journal of Science, by Mr. F. 

 B. Loomis, on the probable mode of origin of the Wasatch 

 Eocene deposits. The relative scarcity of fish-remains forbids, 

 in the author's opinion, the view that these beds were deposited 

 in lake-basins. Nevertheless the occurrence of remains of 

 crocodiles, freshwater terrapins, and fishes in sufficient numbers 

 to make up 10 per cent, of the whole fauna, would be very 

 remarkable in strata of seolian origin ; and the presence during 

 deposition of a certain amount of water seems therefore to 

 be essential. It is accordingly suggested that the Wasatch 

 beds were laid down on plains subject to periodical inunda- 

 tions ; confirmation of this being afforded by their lithological 

 constituents. 



Californian cavern exploration has been continued by Mr. 

 E. L. Furlong, who in a note to the March number of 

 Science communicates the results of a preliminary examina- 

 tion of a cave near Auburn. The remains found included those 

 of the ground-sloth Megalonyx, as well as of pumas and 

 horses ; but no traces were discovered of the extinct ruminants 

 Euceratherium and Prcptoceras characteristic of the Shasta caves 

 explored by the same gentleman a few years ago. 



In a paper published in the Annals of the Carnegie Museum, 

 vol. iv. No. i, 1906, Mr. O. A. Peterson describes a number of 

 new mammals from the Miocene of Nebraska and Wyoming. 

 Several of these belong to the group of oreodonts or mery- 

 coidodonts (the " ruminating hogs " of Leidy), but there is also 

 a primitive camel, as well as a dog-like carnivore of the genus 

 Amphicyon. The Miocene fauna of South Dakota has occupied 

 the attention of Dr. W. D. Matthew, who has published the 

 results of his investigations in the Bulletin of the American 

 Museum of Natural History. The contents of this paper are 

 noticed later. 



In Europe Dr. Max Schlosser, in the Ncucs Jahrbuch (1907, 

 vol. ii. p. 1), has given descriptions of fossil mammals from the 

 Pliocene of Spain, with observations on the line of division 



