566 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



They include extinct species of American vultures of the genera 

 Catharista and Gymnogyps, an eagle-owl, a turkey and several 

 representatives of the peculiar existing genera of American 

 game-birds. 



It may be of interest to note that the La Brea asphalt forma- 

 tion has been for some years worked solely for the sake of the 

 bones, the asphalt being so mingled with sand as to be of no 

 commercial value. The asphalt which lies in a deep pit with a 

 superficial area of some 30 ft. square, is constantly bubbling 

 up and is overlain with a thin layer of water. This layer of 

 water serves for a lure to mammals and birds which come to 

 drink and when they have entered or alighted on the area are 

 held fast in the tenacious asphalt by their feet till they die a 

 lingering death by starvation, unless they are sufficiently heavy 

 to become engulfed in the treacherous black deposit. What is 

 going on at the present day appears to have been in progress 

 ever since the Pleistocene period, for the asphalt is packed with 

 skulls and bones, some of which, as noted above, belong to 

 existing species, whilst others pertain to extinct types, such as 

 sabre-toothed tigers and ground-sloths. So numerous are the 

 remains of the former species that one collector is stated to 

 possess about sixty skulls and there are doubtless scores more 

 awaiting extraction. Skulls of a large wolf are also common. 

 As regards the remains of eagles and vultures, it is note- 

 worthy that the majority consists of the shank-bones (tarsi), 

 thus indicating that the birds were held by their feet in the 

 asphalt, while their bodies remained above the surface to be 

 decomposed and disintegrated. By the constant movement 

 which takes place in the asphalt, the shank-bones and toe- 

 bones eventually become buried to a considerable depth. A 

 death-trap of this nature seems to be unknown in any other 

 part of the globe. 



A bone from the superficial deposits of Darling Downs, 

 Queensland, is identified by Mr. C. W. de Vis {Ann. Queensland 

 Mus. No. 10, pp. 15-17) as the basal phalange of the first toe of 

 a bird probably allied to the accipitrines. It is provisionally 

 made the type of a new genus and species, Palceolestes gorei. 



The well-known Jurassic bird Archceopteryx forms the basis 

 of an article by Dr. O. Abel entitled " Die Vorfahren der Vogel 

 und ihre Lebensweise " {Verh. zool-bot. Ges. Wien, vol. lxi. pp. 

 144-91), in which the author discusses the arrangement of the 



