50 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [DeC. 12 



The iBiological Section then organized, Prof. H. F. Osborx 

 in the chair, Dr. Bashford Dean Secretary. 

 [ The following papers were read : 



J. L. "NVoRTMAN, "On the Mammalian Fauna of the Lower 

 Miocene. (White Eiver formation).'' 



F. M. Chapman, "On the Origin of Bird Life in the West 

 Indies." 



G. S. Huntington, "Note on the Ileo-colic Junction of Pro- 

 cyon loio7'.'' 



H. F. OsBORN, "On a New Artiodactyl from the Lower Mio- 

 cene.'' 



The paper of F. S. Lee, "On the Functions of the Internal 

 Ear,'' was unavoidably postj)oned. 



Prof. Osborn gave a brief description of the Miocene Proto- 

 ceras celer, Marsh. Both male and female skulls of this remark- 

 ably horned artiodactyl were reported as among the recent 

 additions to the American Museum of Natural History. 



On the Ileo-colic Junction in Procyon lotor and Allied 



Forms. 



BY GEO. S. HUNTINGTON, 



Professor of Anatomy, Columbia University, New York. 



In presenting some points in reference to certain forms of the 



ileo-colic junction in mammalia for the consideration of the 



Section, I desire to make my communication a iDreliminary 



note, and to report, at a later date, the results of more detailed 



nvestigations at present in progress. 



The presence of a caecum in some form is such a widely dis- 

 tributed f eatui'e of the mammalian alimentary canal as to render 

 the absence of this structure a fact of considerable morpholog- 

 ical interest. 



More especially does this become the case if we leave out of 

 consideration the orders of Insectivora and Chiroptera, in which 

 the absence of the cascum is characteristic, and confine our 

 attention to the isolated instances of lack of this structure in 

 other groups. Narrowed down to these limits the absence of a 

 distinct ctBcum is noted in several Cetaceans, Phy>^eter macro- 

 oephalus, Delphinus deljyhis, Monodnn monoceros ; further, in 



