PALEONTOLOGY. 445 



Africa, or an explanation of the lack of life, or the lack of preservation 

 of remains, in the interval represented by the barren beds. These 

 questions have not as yet been answered, but the search in the Triassic 

 beds of Texas resulted in the discovery of some deposits of remains of 

 stegocephalians and reptiles that are entirely new to science and dis- 

 tinct from the life of the same period in Europe. The study and de- 

 scription of these forms have resulted in pubhcation of a prehminary 

 description of the new suborder Desmatosuchia, the description of a 

 cast of the brain-cavity of Desmatosuchus, and the description of a 

 new species of Ceratodus, C. dorothece, the first reported occurrence of 

 this genus in the Triassic of North America. Under preparation and 

 in process of description are, first, a very perfect and undistorted skull 

 of a new genus of stereospondylus stegocephalian, unique in the 

 preservation of all the characters, which will be called Buettneria 

 perfeda; second, a skull of a new genus of phytosaur of small size, 

 retaining many primitive characters; third, a skull of a large phytosaur 

 of a new species; fourth, a large number of isolated portions of the skel- 

 eton and armor of phytosaurs, teeth of undescribed fish, and coprolites. 

 An expedition to the Triassic beds of Texas in the summer of 1921 

 resulted in the collection of more material, notabl}^ a very perfect 

 skull of a large phytosaur, portions of the skeleton of a small 

 dinosaur, and many other specimens of reptiles and stegocepha- 

 lians. These specimens are now being studied for publication. 



The completed results of this study will be submitted to the Carnegie 

 Institution for publication as a contribution to knowledge of the fauna 

 of the upper Triassic of North America; the results of the work in the 

 Triassic of Texas have been so important that it will be continued for 

 the present. It is intended that wuth the return of more settled condi- 

 tions the original course of the work as defined under the grant will 

 be resumed. 



Hay, Oliver P., U. S. National Museum, Washington, District of Columbia. 



Report on ivork done on the Pleistocene epoch and its vertebrate fossils. 

 (For previous reports see Year Books Nos. 11-19.) 



At the time of making his last report the writer had been engaged 

 in a study of the Pleistocene of Washington and Oregon and its verte- 

 brate fossils. One of the very interesting formations of these two 

 States is that named by Dr. J. Harlen Bretz the Satsop. This, so 

 far as is now known, extends along the Columbia River from its 

 mouth to the great lava plains east of the Cascade Range. To the 

 same formation Bretz refers various deposits found along the coast 

 of Washington and Oregon; also the deposit occupying the Willi- 

 amette and Cowlitz valleys. "WTiere the Columbia cuts through the 

 Cascades the Satsop stands as high as 3,700 feet above sea-level, and 

 it must have been laid down before, or about the time, the Cascade 



