386 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



English charters given at Oxford during the winter have brought me into 

 closer contact with the problems of the /Vnglo-Saxon script, with which 

 I was first confronted in my study of Wiirzburg manuscripts. The 

 study of this script is the next large task to which I propose to devote 

 my attention. 



PALEONTOLOGY. 



Case, E. C, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Study of the 

 vertebrate fauna and paleogeography of North America in the Permian 

 period, with especial reference to world relations. (For previous reports see 

 Year Books Nos. 2, 4, 8-13.) 



Work for the last year has been largely directed toward the accumu- 

 lation of material and data bearing on the paleogeography of the 

 Permian and Permo-Carboniferous periods, and the environmental and 

 other directive influences affecting the evolution of vertebrates at the 

 close of the Paleozoic. This work will be continued in anticipation of 

 a comprehensive treatment of the evolution of the late Paleozoic verte- 

 brate fauna of the earth, similar to the work that has already been done 

 upon that of North America. 



A short field season in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince 

 Edward Island permitted an examination of the Permian or Permo- 

 Carboniferous beds with regard to their relation to the beds of equal 

 age in the United States and to the adjacent beds above and below 

 them. On Prince Edward Island a small fragment of bone was found 

 in a conglomerate at Cape Traverse; this is the second specimen of a 

 fossil vertebrate found in the island and is with little doubt the proxi- 

 mal end of the humerus of a small Dimetrodon-like animal, confirming 

 the reference of the rocks of the island to the Permian or Permo- 

 Carboniferous. The character of the Red Beds was found to be, so 

 far as the preliminary examination went, similar to those of the south- 

 western part of the United States, both in composition and structure, 

 indicating similar conditions of deposition. 



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

 Investigation of the vertebrate paleontology of the Pleistocene epoch. (For 

 previous reports see Year Books Nos. 11-13.) 



During the past year the ^vriter has been engaged in collecting infor- 

 mation about the geology of the Pleistocene and its vertebrate animals. 

 Two papers have been published, which contain some of the results 

 secured. The titles of these will be found on page 34. 



The greater part of the months of November, December, and Jan- 

 uary was spent in examining collections of Pleistocene materials in the 

 possession of various institutions and of private individuals in the 

 Western and Southern States. A part of a day was spent at Big 

 Bone Lick, a locahty made famous by the great quantities of fossil 

 bones which have been collected there. Many collections were seen 



