Miscellaneous » — BooJcs, 239 



post-tortiary period ; and he further observes, that in these deposits, " the 

 remains of whales, seals, and two species of fishes, and many marine shells 

 of those species still inhabiting the Gulf of St. Lawrence, are found ;" from 

 which remarks, together with those of Mr. Billings, and the appearance of 

 the fossil itself, we are inc'iued to suspect the Seal of the Ottawa has its 

 descendants yet sporting on the sea border of the Canadas. 



'* Independent of all other considerations, the specimen is interesting, as 

 exhibiting the same process at the present geological period, which for so 

 many successive ages has preserved the remains of vegetables and animals, 

 which are now examined by the palaeontologist as so many iconographic 

 illustrations of life in the history of our planet. 



'' Plate III. Representation, two-thirds the size of nature, of the greater 

 portion of the bones of the hinder extremities of a young Seal, partially 

 imbedded in one-half of concretion of indurated clay, from a post-pliocene 

 deposit of the Ottawa River, Canada." 



MISCELLANEOUS — Notices of Books, &c. 



Descriptions of some remains of Fishes from the Carboniferous and 



Devonian Formations of the United States, and also of some 



extinct Mammalia. By Professor Joseph Leidy, M. D., 



Philadelphia. 



We have received from the author, a copy of the above-named beautifully 



illustrated Memoir. Among the Mammalia, is described the skull of an 



extinct species of wolf discovered in the banks of the Ohio River, where it 



was associated witli the remains of the Megalonyx Bison, Virginian Deer, 



the extinct Horse of America, {Equus Americanus,) and the Tapir. Prof> 



Leidy says *' The fragment, in comparison with the corresponding portion of 



the skull of the common wolf of Europe, and its American congeners, differs 



only in being larger, and in presenting slight variations in the teeth, not 



however greater than those found among different varieties, or perhaps even 



individuals of recent wolves." He proposes for the fossil, the name, [Canis 



primcBvus). We should have noticed this discovery in our article on the 



wolf, but overlooked it. 



Another specimen is a fragment of the lower jaw, and an upper molar 

 tooth of an extinct Bear, ( Ursus amplidem, Leidy,) which appears to have 

 been intermediate in size between the Common Black Bear ( Ursus Ameri- 

 canus,) and the Grizzly Bear, ( Ursus ferox.) It was found in a ravine in 

 the neighbourhood of Natchez, Mississippi. In the same deposit were 

 discovered the remains of the Mastodon, Megalonyx, Mylodon, and other 

 creatures of long lost races. The Black Bear, the Yirginian Deer, and the 

 Buflalo, had made their appearance in America before these gigantic animals 

 became extinct, their bones being found in the same association. 



Another curious fossil described by the Professor, is the Jaw of an 

 animal of the Camel family, {Camelops Kansanus, Leidy,) found in the 

 Kansas territory. 



