628 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



a number of other Patagonian genera referred by Ameghino to 

 the Primates do not belong to that order, some, such as Pithe- 

 culites and Homunculites, being apparently marsupials, while 

 others, like Archceopithecus and Henricosbornia, seem to be 

 ungulates. 



In this place attention may be directed to a few faunistic 

 mammal papers, among which reference may first be made to 

 one by Mr. J. W. Gidley (Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. vol. xlvi. 

 pp. 29-102), recording the results of the exploration of a cavern 

 near Cumberland, Maryland, U.S.A. The remains include those 

 of a bear closely related to the existing Ursus americanus, but 

 with larger tusks, which has been named U. vitabilis, and also 

 of a dog, Canis ambusteri, of the size of a wolf, but with lower 

 carnassial teeth resembling those of a coyote. 



Brief reference may also be made to a popular article con- 

 tributed by Dr. W. D. Matthew to the American Museum Journal 

 for November 1903 on the vertebrate remains discovered in 

 the great asphalt-springs of Rancho La Brea, California, which 

 formed during the later part of the Tertiary period a death-trap 

 for the fauna of the adjacent country. Remains of fully fifty 

 species of birds have been identified, and there were probably 

 as many mammals ; remains of wolves, lion-like cats, sabre- 

 toothed tigers, eagles, and vultures being the most common, 

 while next in abundance are those of bisons, horses, and gigantic 

 ground-sloths, as well as of wading-birds. On the other hand, 

 bones of the smaller mammals and birds are comparatively rare. 

 The obvious corollary from this is that the aforesaid large 

 mammals ventured heedlessly on to the apparently solid surface 

 of the treacherous asphalt, in which they soon became hopelessly 

 bogged and condemned to a lingering death by suffocation or 

 starvation. While thus hopelessly trapped, they served as lures 

 to attract all the beasts and birds of prey within sight, which in 

 their turn became enmired, and thus drew others of their kin 

 to the fatal snare. So things went on from year to year and 

 from century to century, with the result that the palaeontologist 

 has now a rich museum of the remains of the old fauna of the 

 country ready to his hand. 



In connection with cavern and other superficial formations, 

 reference maybe made to the identification by Mr. J. W. Jackson 

 {Geol. Mag. decade 5, vol. x. pp. 259-62) of remains of the lynx 

 from caves in North Wales and Derbyshire. Here, too, may be 



