VERTEBRATE PALAEONTOLOGY IN 1914 



By R. LYDEKKER, B.A., F.R.S. 



The war has left its fell mark on the palaeontological work 

 of 1914, as on everything else; and the output (or, at all events, 

 the published work which has reached this country) has con- 

 sequently been very much below the normal. Up to the end 

 of July matters in this respect went on much in the ordinary 

 way ; but immediately following the outbreak of the war there 

 was, of course, a complete cessation of all scientific (as well 

 as other) literature from Germany and Austria, while, for a 

 time at any rate, but few scientific publications were received 

 from France, while the subsequent arrivals have been irregular 

 and much fewer than ordinary. Belgium, of course, has entirely 

 ceased even to think about scientific work. Italy and America, 

 on the other hand, have maintained scientific work without 

 interruption, as has likewise, to a great extent, the United 

 Kingdom, where the leading biological and palaeontological 

 journals have continued to appear with their normal regularity. 



In spite of all these hindrances, and bearing in mind the possi- 

 bility that a certain amount of published work may never have 

 reached this country, there is still a fair tale to record, although 

 there is nothing of what may be called an epoch-making 

 character or even of surpassing interest. 



The most important part of the year's work is undoubtedly 

 that on the mammal-like reptiles and their structural re- 

 semblances and relationships to the stegocephalian amphibians, 

 as well as those of the latter to fringe-finned fishes. 



To the editor of Nature the writer is indebted for permission, 

 as in previous years, to reproduce the purport of a number 

 of paragraphs written by himself for that journal. His thanks 

 are also due to the American Museum of Natural History 

 and to the Museums Journal for permission to reproduce photo- 

 graphs. 



Commencing with faunistic mammal papers, attention may 

 first be directed to an account by Mr. L. Glauert, in vol. iii., 



613 " 



