6 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



a puma nearly related to one of the living races of that widely 

 spread species. 



If the identification be correct, considerable interest attaches 

 to a premolar tooth from the Tongrien horizon near Rennes 

 described by Mr. Maurice Leriche (Ann. Soc. Ge'ol. Nord, 

 vol. xxxix. pp. 369, 370, 1910) as a new generic type of seal, 

 under the name of Palceotaria henriettce. As indicated by its 

 designation, the animal to which this tooth pertained is con- 

 sidered to be most nearly allied to the eared seals {Otariidce), 

 while it is likewise claimed to be the earliest known member of 

 the Pinnipedia. 



Miss Dorothy Bate, who has done so much to increase our 

 knowledge of the natural history of the Mediterranean Islands, 

 has discovered in the superficial deposits of Crete the remains 

 of a gigantic rat, described (Geol. Mag. decade 5, vol. ix. pp. 4-6) 

 as Mus catreus. It is the largest known member of its genus 

 (including Epimys) and rivals in size the great African Cricetomys 

 gambianus. 



Considerable interest attaches to Mr. M. A. C. Hinton's 

 identification (Q. J. Geol. Soc. vol. lxviii. p. 249) of remains 

 of an extinct lemming (Dicrostonyx henseli) from a Pleistocene 

 Arctic bed near Ponder's End. The same species occurs in 

 the fissures at Ightham, Kent. 



A new race of the extinct wild ox or aurochs (Bos primi- 

 genius italics) from the Pleistocene of the Roman district and a 

 second (B. p. sicilice), remarkable for its small size, from that of 

 Sicily, are recorded by Dr. Hans Pohlig in the Bull. Soc. beige 

 Geol. vol. xxvi. Proc. Verb. pp. 311—17. 



The most elaborate memoir published during the year on 

 fossil ungulates is one by Dr. R. Kowarzik (Denks. K. Ak. Wiss. 

 Wien, vol. lxxxvii. pp. 1-62), on remains of musk-oxen from the 

 diluvial deposits of Europe and Asia, in which it is concluded 

 that these animals were natives of the Arctic regions in late 

 Tertiary times but were driven southwards during the glacial 

 period. The glacial representative of the animal is regarded 

 as a distinct species (Ovibos fossilis, Rat. = Prceovibos priscus, 

 Staud.), which at the close of the cold period found its way 

 from England to the Arctic barred by the disappearance of a 

 former land-bridge. Continental herds wandered, however, by 

 way of Russia, Siberia, and Bering Strait, to N. America, 

 where they gave rise to Q. mackenzianus, the form now in- 



