PALEONTOLOGY. 353 



Remington Kellogg has continued his extraordinarily interesting work 

 on the evolution of whales, having included in his studies the history of whales 

 and seals on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States. 



Mr. Kellogg has brought to completion, and in some instances to publica- 

 tion, six important papers including descriptions of new and interesting 

 material representing the whale group from South Carolina and the coast of 

 Maryland and new data regarding the extremities or flippers of an extinct 

 member of the seal group from southern California. To the results con- 

 tributed through these papers there should be added three important studies 

 of new whale material from the Miocene formations of California and an 

 important discussion of the comparative anatomy of a portion of the ear 

 region of whales, both recent and extinct. 



Wieland, G. R., Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. Associate in 

 pakeontology. (For previous reports see Year Books Nos. 2^, 6-9, 

 11-21.) 



A quantitative study based on the fossil plant record has indicated a strong 

 resistance to the proximate environmental factors, quite throughout geologic 

 time. Numerically, ancient plants were finite. The course of change was 

 simple, the lines of descent parallel, and time long. These results are ready 

 for publication elsewhere, and a briefer paper on the Liassio-Oolitic boundary 

 in the Mixteca Alta region of Mexico has been prepared. 



During the past winter Dr. Dahlgren, of the Field Columbian Museum, 

 Chicago, examined, in consultation with reference to detailed structure, the 

 cycadeoid types of flowers. His glass models of these (brought nearly to 

 completion) are of beauty, interest, and scientific value. This renewed atten- 

 tion has served to emphasize the fact that the cycadeoid perianth, with the 

 coalescent stamens and the ovulate cone, is comparable to the most instead of 

 the least specialized angiospermous flowers. The cycadeoid floral structures 

 exactly parallel those of existent "perfect flowers." Organically speaking, 

 whether viewed as the result of reduction or as examples of gigantism, the 

 flower of Cycadeoidea, especially, is of advanced type. Its parts are those of 

 the flower of Linnaeus, of Goethe, and of Payer. 



The U. S. National Museum has resumed cooperation in the investigation 

 of the petrified cycadeoids by cutting a group of interesting types. These 

 include a splendid new stem from half a mile east of Comanche, Texas. This 

 has been donated by its finder, Mr. Bart Johnson, of Comanche. Cutting of 

 this stem, polishing, and illustration are near completion. There was also 

 secured during the year an additional Cycadeoida dartoni stem from near the 

 locality of the original type. The new specimen is particularly interesting 

 because it is without fruits, in striking contrast to the great seed-cone series 

 borne by the type. 



No field work has been done this year, and no laboratory work at Yale, 

 aside from some photography. The laboratory unit at the Oyster River (cf. 

 Year Book 20, p. 457), West Haven, Connecticut, has been in use. The 

 Harvey Lewis Company, of New Haven, has again kindly made certain thin 

 sections of the cycadeoids. 



The materials for volume III of the American Fossil Cycads appear to be 

 at hand, and it is trusted that this continuation of published work is now so 



