674 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



white whale described as Delphmapterus vermontanus ; but 

 whether this is more than a large race of the existing D. leucas 

 is left doubtful. 



The only paper on fossil edentates that has come under 

 my notice is one by Mr. J. Sinclair, published in Proc. Amer. 

 Phil. Soc, vol. xlix. pp. 191-5, on dermal bones of Paraniylodon 

 from the asphalt deposits near Los Angeles, California. These 

 bones agree very closely with those of the Patagonian Grypo- 

 therium. 



A few extinct marsupials are described as new by Mr. L. 

 Glauert in an account of the so-called Mammoth Cave in 

 Western Australia, published in Rec. IV. Austral. Mas. vol. i. 

 pp. 11-36. Some interest also attaches to an announcement 

 by Mr. H. H. Scott in the Launceston Examiner of August 23rd 

 of the discovery of remains of Diprotodon in Tasmania. 



The question of the proper systematic position and feeding- 

 habits of the African genus Tritylodon and its European and 

 American relatives Plagiaidax and Ptilodus has been reopened 

 by Dr. R. Broom in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of 

 London^ 19 10, pp. 760-8. The author has no doubt as to Tritylodon 

 being a mammal, while as the only known specimen is from the 

 Stormberg beds, it must be regarded as of Lower Jurassic, and 

 not Triassic, age. Dr. Broom refuses to admit that Mr. Gidley 

 is justified in including the three genera among the diprotodont 

 marsupials, remarking that the dentition, both structurally and 

 numerically, is of a different type, whilst the presence of a well- 

 developed septomaxillary in the African genus suggests mono- 

 treme rather than marsupial affinities. It is also pointed out 

 that, as believed by Osborn, there is considerable probability of 

 diprotodonts having originated in Australia, in which case it is 

 obvious that the Secondary genera must form an early parallel 

 development. The author, therefore, concludes that " in the 

 present state of our knowledge it seems wisest to leave the 

 Multituberculata as a distinct independent group with no very 

 near affinities with the living monotremes, marsupials, or 

 eutherians." As regards the food of these mammals, it is pointed 

 out that fruits were non-existent in Jurassic times, while if, as 

 Dr. Broom considers probable, Tritylodon and its relatives were 

 carnivorous, they must have fed mainly on reptiles, which would 

 require a type of dentition different from that of mammal-eating 

 species. 



