ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 569 



Chalicotheres.* — 0. A. Peterson gives a preliminary account of the 

 splendidly preserved remains of Moropus in the Carnegie Museum. 

 The skeleton presents a unique combination of characters. The 

 phalanges are highly modified, terminating in cleft ungues which were, 

 no doubt, covered by heavy claws ; otherwise the skeleton is distinct- 

 ively of an Ungulate type, most closely resembling the Perissodactyla. 

 The fore limbs are longer than the hind limbs ; they, together 

 with the clawed feet, must have given the animal a very peculiar 

 appearance. Some species are as large as an African rhinoceros, or 

 even larger. Cope put them in a separate order, Ancylopoda ; they 

 are now referred to the Chalicotherioidea, an aberrant super-family of 

 the Perissodactyla. In Miocene times they extended over Europe, Asia, 

 and America. There are about twenty individuals of Moropus repre- 

 sented in the Carnegie Museum. 



Reptiles of Eastern Island.! — Samuel Garman discusses two species 

 of small lizards — a gecko, Lepidodactylus lugubris, and a skink, Crypto- 

 blep'harus pmcilopleurus. It appears that these lizards were not originally 

 derived from the nearer islands to the westward, in the direction of 

 Samoa and the Fijis, but from the Hawaiian Islands, to the far north- 

 westward. The possibilities of transport to the isolated volcanic island 

 are discussed. Some marine Chelonians and a marine snake are also 

 recorded, but they are obviously of less interest as regards distribution. 



Independent Bony Epiphyses in Sauropsida4 — Hugo Fuchs has 

 found true epiphyses in the humerus, radius, ulna, and some other bones 

 of Varan lis r/riseus, in the femur of Uromastix acanthmurus, in the 

 humerus of Phrynosoma harJanii, and in some other cases. He notes 

 that Clegenbaur and Dollo both refer to epiphyses in lizards, and that 

 Huxley pointed out the epiphysial nature of the tip of the cnemial 

 process in the Rhea. 



Variation in Length of Frog's IntestineJ — Emile Yung finds that 

 Ranafusca has a shorter intestine than R. esculenta, that in both species 

 the males have a shorter intestine than the females, and that in the same 

 species and sex the larger individuals have a relatively longer intestine. 

 In spring the intestine is relatively shorter than in autumn, this differ- 

 ence having to do with the rest or activity of the digestive tract in the 

 period before measurement. 



Autostyiic and Protostylic.|| — J. Graham Kerr points out that two 

 very different modes of suspension of the jaw are confused under the 

 term autostyiic. In Heterodontus the palato-pterygo-quadrate cartilage 

 is firmly adherent to the cartilaginous cranium; in Chimcera complete 

 fusion has occurred. But in Dipnoi the suspension of the lower jaw 

 from the skull is more primitive. It is through the upper part of the 

 mandibular arch itself. This may be called protostylic. 



* Amer. Nat., xli. (1907) pp. 733-52 (26 figs.). 



+ Bull. Mus. Conip. Zool. Harvard, lii. (1908) pp. 1-14 (1 pi.). 



t Anat. Anzeig., xxxii. (1908) pp 352-60 (4 figs.). 



§ Comptes Rendus, cxlv. (1907) pp. 1306-8. 



|| Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc. Edinburgh, xvii. (1908) p. 1 . 



