﻿252 
  JOURNAL 
  OF 
  THE 
  WASHINGTON 
  ACADEMY 
  OF 
  SCIENCES 
  VOL. 
  12, 
  NO. 
  10 
  

  

  Plant 
  Breeding 
  at 
  Petrograd 
  delivered 
  an 
  address 
  on 
  Russian 
  work 
  in 
  genetics 
  

   and 
  plant 
  breeding. 
  

  

  Dr. 
  Vernon 
  L. 
  Kellogg, 
  Permanent 
  Secretary 
  of 
  the 
  National 
  Research 
  

   Council, 
  lead 
  a 
  discussion 
  on 
  The 
  interrelations 
  of 
  Russia 
  and 
  American 
  scien- 
  

   tists. 
  

  

  630th 
  meeting 
  

  

  The 
  630th 
  meeting 
  was 
  held 
  in 
  the 
  Lecture 
  Hall 
  of 
  the 
  Cosmos 
  Club 
  No\ 
  em- 
  

   ber 
  26, 
  1921. 
  President 
  Hollister 
  presided 
  and 
  44 
  members 
  were 
  present. 
  

   Upon 
  recommendation 
  of 
  the 
  Council 
  Mr. 
  Thos. 
  E. 
  Penard 
  and 
  Dr. 
  T. 
  

   Van 
  Hyning 
  were 
  elected 
  to 
  membership. 
  The 
  program 
  was 
  as 
  follows: 
  

  

  R. 
  W. 
  vShufeldt: 
  Changes 
  in 
  the 
  skull 
  of 
  an 
  American 
  badger 
  (Taxidea 
  

   americana) 
  due 
  to 
  extreme 
  old 
  age 
  (illustrated). 
  A 
  reading 
  of 
  Dr. 
  Coues' 
  

   descriptions 
  of 
  badger 
  skulls, 
  evidently 
  based 
  upon 
  small 
  and 
  imperfect 
  

   ones, 
  led 
  to 
  an 
  examination 
  of 
  the 
  series 
  in 
  the 
  National 
  Museum. 
  It 
  was 
  

   found 
  that 
  as 
  distinguished 
  from 
  skulls 
  of 
  young 
  animals, 
  the 
  skulls 
  in 
  older 
  

   specimens 
  showed 
  a 
  large 
  median 
  crest, 
  with 
  other 
  cranial 
  developments 
  

   such 
  as 
  greatly 
  developed 
  and 
  outwardly 
  curved 
  zygomas, 
  and 
  a 
  great 
  con- 
  

   traction 
  or 
  pinching 
  of 
  the 
  cranium. 
  These 
  changes 
  in 
  the 
  skull 
  are 
  correlated 
  

   with 
  the 
  development 
  of 
  the 
  masseter 
  muscles 
  as 
  the 
  specimen 
  grows 
  older. 
  

  

  J. 
  W. 
  GidlEy: 
  The 
  Primates 
  of 
  the 
  Paleocene. 
  Information 
  regarding 
  

   the 
  origin 
  of 
  the 
  Primates 
  is 
  of 
  special 
  interest 
  to 
  man 
  because 
  it 
  is 
  the 
  order 
  

   to 
  which 
  he 
  belongs, 
  as 
  well 
  as 
  the 
  living 
  lemurs, 
  apes, 
  and 
  monkeys. 
  Fossil 
  

   primate 
  material 
  is 
  rare 
  and 
  generally 
  fragmentary, 
  and 
  the 
  discussions 
  and 
  

   conclusions 
  upon 
  the 
  early 
  life 
  history 
  and 
  development 
  of 
  the 
  Primates 
  are 
  

   necessarily 
  incomplete. 
  

  

  Primates 
  have 
  long 
  been 
  known 
  from 
  the 
  Eocene, 
  but 
  older 
  forms 
  have 
  

   been 
  found 
  in 
  the 
  Fort 
  Union 
  formation 
  which 
  is 
  Paleocene. 
  In 
  the 
  Eocene 
  

   of 
  America, 
  two 
  distinct 
  groups 
  of 
  Primates 
  have 
  been 
  recognized, 
  each 
  with 
  

   several 
  genera 
  and 
  species. 
  One 
  of 
  these, 
  as 
  shown 
  by 
  Matthew, 
  is 
  a 
  sub- 
  

   family 
  of 
  Tarsiidae, 
  and 
  includes 
  at 
  least 
  five 
  groups 
  of 
  supergeneric 
  rank. 
  

   The 
  other 
  Eocene 
  group, 
  as 
  shown 
  by 
  Gregory, 
  is 
  a 
  subfamily 
  of 
  the 
  Euro- 
  

   pean 
  Eocene 
  family 
  Adapidae 
  (Notharctidae). 
  

  

  Regarding 
  the 
  relationships 
  of 
  the 
  Eocene 
  Primates 
  and 
  especially 
  the 
  

   Adapidae 
  to 
  the 
  living 
  groups 
  of 
  Primates, 
  there 
  exists 
  among 
  authorities 
  

   considerable 
  difference 
  of 
  opinion. 
  But 
  there 
  has 
  been 
  a 
  rather 
  generally 
  

   accepted 
  view 
  that 
  these 
  early 
  Primates 
  were, 
  at 
  least, 
  representative 
  of, 
  if 
  

   not 
  ancestral 
  to 
  all, 
  or 
  nearly 
  all, 
  of 
  the 
  living 
  lemurs, 
  apes 
  and 
  monkeys. 
  

   Gregory 
  attempts 
  to 
  show 
  from 
  the 
  lemur-like 
  characters 
  in 
  the 
  Notharctid 
  

   group, 
  that 
  they 
  are 
  true 
  primitive 
  lemurs, 
  comprising 
  a 
  group 
  of 
  Primates 
  

   "which 
  is 
  at 
  once 
  the 
  oldest 
  and 
  most 
  primitive 
  which 
  is 
  known 
  from 
  adequate 
  

   material," 
  establishing 
  an 
  early 
  skeletal 
  type 
  "relatively 
  near 
  to 
  the 
  base 
  of 
  

   the 
  order, 
  and 
  representing 
  in 
  many 
  respects 
  the 
  earliest 
  ancestors 
  of 
  the 
  

   higher 
  Primates." 
  Also 
  Gregory 
  describes 
  a 
  hypothetical 
  Paleocene 
  group 
  

   ancestral 
  to 
  both 
  the 
  Tarsiidae 
  and 
  Adapidae 
  (Notharchidae) 
  of 
  the 
  Eocene. 
  

  

  Mr. 
  Gidley 
  stated 
  that 
  his 
  researches 
  in 
  the 
  Paleocene 
  faunas 
  from 
  the 
  

   Fort 
  Union 
  collection 
  in 
  the 
  National 
  Museum 
  reveals 
  four 
  groups 
  of 
  super- 
  

   generic 
  importance 
  ; 
  two 
  of 
  them 
  represent 
  new 
  subgroups 
  of 
  the 
  Tarsiidae 
  

   as 
  defined 
  by 
  Matthew, 
  one 
  is 
  referable 
  to 
  one 
  of 
  Matthew's 
  Eocene 
  subgroups, 
  

   and 
  the 
  fourth 
  represents 
  the 
  genus 
  Nothodectus, 
  described 
  by 
  Matthew 
  and 
  

   referred 
  by 
  him 
  to 
  a 
  new 
  family, 
  the 
  Nothodectidae. 
  No 
  species 
  was 
  found 
  

   fulfilling 
  the 
  requirements 
  of 
  a 
  near 
  relative 
  of 
  the 
  Notharctidae, 
  or 
  the 
  hy- 
  

  

  