630 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



distinctive feature of all the members of the group under 

 consideration. 



Mention of the tritubercular type of dentition leads con- 

 veniently on to a paper by Mr. K. S. Bardenfleth (Vidensk. 

 Meddel. Dank, naturh. Fpren, vol. lxv. pp. 6i-m) on the form 

 and structure of the carnassial teeth of Carnivora — this paper 

 being, of course, only in part palaeontological. Its chief interest, 

 from the latter standpoint, is concentrated on a discussion as to 

 the possibility of the tritubercular molar being formed by a 

 rotation of two of the three longitudinally arranged cusps of 

 a tooth like that of the Mesozoic Triconodon. The author adduces 

 evidence to show that, in the first place, such a rotation of the 

 cusps could not have taken place, and, secondly, if it did, the 

 cusps are not respectively homologous with those of the 

 tritubercular molar. He adds that " if this holds good, the 

 whole nomenclature and theory of Osborn falls to the ground." 



Turning to the Carnivora, it may be noticed that Dr. Merriam 

 has considerably extended our knowledge of fossil Canidce by a 

 study of the osteology and dentition of the North American 

 Tertiary genus Tephrocyon in a paper issued in the Publications 

 of California University, Bull. Dep. Geol. vol. vii. pp. 359-72. 

 In the opinion of the author, the genus in question was to a 

 considerable extent intermediate in dental and skeletal structure 

 between the extinct American ALlurodon and modern wolves and 

 jackals (Canis) ; its range extending from the middle portion of 

 the Miocene to the early part of the Pliocene period. 



Remains of the small bear known as Ursus etruscus, or 

 arvernensis, from the Pliocene of Tegelen-sur-Meuse, form the 

 subject of a paper by Mr. E. T. Newton, published in the 

 Verhand Geol.-Mijnbouw, Genuots. Nederl. en Kolon. Geol. ser. 1, 

 191 3, pp. 249-54. Hyaena remains from the Pleistocene of the 

 Lower Rhine in the neighbourhood of Mosbach have been 

 referred by Dr. H. Pohlig {Bull. Soc. beige Geol. vol. xxvii. Proc- 

 Verb. p. 147) to a new race of the striped species {Hycena striata 

 trogontherii). 



The only paper on fossil rodents that has come under my 

 notice is one by Dr. T. Studer {Mitt, naturfor. Ges. Bern, 1913, 

 8 pp.) on remains of marmots from the European Diluvium. 

 Many of these belong to the large form of the Alpine species 

 known as Arctomys marmotta primigenia, but those from Bohemia 

 are identified with A. bobac of Eastern Europe. 



