VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY IN 191 1 557 



In a communication to the Centralblatt fur Mineralogie, 

 Stuttgart, for 191 1 (pp. 54-60 and 83-9), Mr. H. Stremme 

 describes certain mammalian remains from the Pithecanthropus 

 beds of Trinil, Java ; referring those of a dog and of a cat to 

 new generic types. 



Turning to papers dealing with older faunas, reference 

 may first be made to one by Dr. Franz Toula {Abh. Geol. 

 Peichsanstalt, Wien, vol. xx. pt. 5, pp. 36-45) on mammalian 

 remains from the Pliocene lignite formation of Illyefalva. 

 Since, however, all the specimens — of which many are figured — 

 pertain to well-known types, detailed notice is unnecessary. 

 The same is the case with an article by Dr. Max Schlosser on 

 vertebrate remains from the brown coal formation of Bruxer, 

 published in Sitz.-Ber. Ges. Lotos, vol. lviii. pp. 229-45. 



Mammalian remains from the Sebastopol district described 

 by Mr. Borisiak {Bull. Ac. Sci. St. Petersbourg for 191 1, pp. 241-50) 

 indicate a fauna allied to that of Pikermi, including examples of 

 Aceratherium, Hipparion, Giraffa and Tragoceros. 



Of more general interest is an article by Dr. H. Stehlin on 

 the evolution and dental development of ungulates from the 

 Lower Tertiary Bohnerz of Switzerland {Verh. Schweiz. Naturf. 

 Ges. 1910, pp. 138-68), in which it is recorded that as we pass 

 from lower to higher beds there is an increase in the bodily 

 size of the species, accompanied by an increase in the height 

 and complexity of the crowns of the cheek-teeth. This pro- 

 gressive complexity is shown in the conversion of triangular, 

 three-cusped premolars into square, four-cusped, molar-like teeth. 

 Towards the close of the paper it is stated that the evidence 

 of Tertiary mammals indicates free communication between 

 the Old World and North America during the early Eocene, 

 after which there was a sundering of the two continents, while 

 union was re-established in the Oligocene. Africa during the 

 Eocene seems to have had no direct communication with Europe, 

 the relationship between the European early Tertiary lemuroids 

 and the modern lemurs of Africa being capable of explanation 

 by means of a land-connection by way of Asia. 



In 1910 Dr. Stehlin also published the sixth part of his 

 account of the mammals of the Swiss Eocene {Abh. Schweiz. pal. 

 Ges. vol. xxxvi. pp. 839-1164), in which he described seven new 

 species of artiodactyles. 



