THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 13 



animal which combined the ruminant and carnivorous characteristics, 

 of which there are several species. There are also two remarkable 

 species of rhinoceros, differing from any remains of this animal found 

 in other parts of the globe. The existing species of the rhinoceros 

 are met with in Africa, Asia, and the islands of Java nnd Sumatra. 

 Remains of extinct species have been found in Great Britain, the conti- 

 nent of Europe, Siberia, and the Himalayas; but no trace of this 

 genus had previously been discovered in America. Another fossil 

 remain belongs to the feline family, about a fifth smaller than the 

 American panther, and is probably the most ancient known genus of 

 this animal. Hundreds of fossil turtles are found in the "Bad Lands ;" 

 they belong to the genus testudo, of which five species are described in 

 this paper. 



The memoir occupies one hundred and twenty-six pages, and is il- 

 lustrated by twenty-four plates, one of which is a folio. It has already 

 been printed and copies distributed among working geologists. No 

 copy-right is secured on the publications of the Institution; and it may 

 be mentioned here, as an illustration of the manner in which the know- 

 ledge contained in the Smithsonian memoirs reaches the public gene- 

 rally in a popular form, that one of the figures of this paper has ah-eady 

 been copied, and some of its materials given in a recent work on 

 geology. 



2. Another paper, the printing of which is nearly complete, is on the 

 "Winds of the Northern Hemisphere," by Prof James H. Coffin, of La- 

 fayette College, Easton, Penns^dvania. It is the same which was men- 

 tioned in the Report for 1851. Its publication has been delayed in con- 

 sequence of the difficulty experienced in finishing the maps and printing 

 the tabular matter, and also on account of additions made to it by the 

 author. It is a very elaborate memoir, of two hundred pages, consisting 

 principally of tabular matter, and illustrated by thirteen maps. The most 

 important results arrived at in this paper, are as fohows : There exist 

 in the northern hemisphere three great zones of wind, extending entirely 

 around the earth, modified and, in some cases, partially interrupted by 

 the configuration and character of the surface. The first of these is 

 the trade wind, near the equator, blowing, when uninterrupted, from 

 northeast to southwest. This belt is interrupted, however, in the At- 

 lantic ocean, near the coast of Africa, upon the Mediterranean sea, and 

 also in Barbary by the action of the Gieat Desert. The second is a 

 belt of westerly wind, nearly two thousand miles in breadth, between 

 latitude 35° and 60° north, and encircling the earth, the westerly di- 

 rection being clearly defined in the middle of the belt, but gradually 

 disappearing as we approach the limits on either side. North of this, 

 there is another system of winds flowing southwardly from high north- 

 ern latitudes, and gradually inclining towards the west as it moves into 

 a latitude of" greater easterly velocity. 



Subsequent investigations have led Prof. Coffin to conclude that the 

 lines which separate these systems are not parallels of latitude, but 

 circles, having a common pole in about latitude 84° north, and longi- 

 tude 105° west from Greenwich, and that the winds of high northern 

 latitudes diverge or radiate from this point. 



The principal cause of these phenomena is the greater heat of the 



