1867.] 305 [Wilder. 



extension within definite limits, reached the thirty-second degree of 

 north latitude. In luirope, they extended as far as the plains of 

 Lombardy. Subsequent to this came a limited glacial period, in 

 which the Southern and Middle States were freed from glaciers, but 

 from Maine westerly, the country was still ice-bound. During a third 

 period, the ice retreated to the northern shores of Lake Superior and 

 the slopes of Mt. Kataadn, while in a fourth period, the one before 

 the present, the continent was clothed with vegetation up to the hilly 

 parts of Canada. 



In answer to the question whether we had any means of connect- 

 ing chronology with these facts, it might be stated that none of the 

 cave animals, or the large mammals which have been mentioned, have 

 been proved to exist prior to the time of the greatest extent of the ice- 

 fields ; and, as it can no longer be doubted that man lived contemporane- 

 ously Avith these animals, he believed that with the waning of the ice 

 period began the era of primeval man. In the successive epochs of the 

 ice, indicated by the retreating ice, we have a relative chronology ; when 

 we ask for more specific statements of age, we find ourselves at once 

 at a loss for an answer. Some indications might be seen in the abra- 

 sions of rocks of unequal hardness, and instances were cited in illus- 

 tration of this. 



In the course of the discussion which followed these remarks. Prof. 

 Agassiz said he hoped for great results from the investigations now 

 undertaking in our own country, and believed that marks of the rein- 

 deer Avould yet be found in the Carolinas. 



The President stated that he had recently visited Dighton 

 Rock, in Taunton, and had examined the inscrijjtion upon 

 it. The marks were evidently made by a picking instrument. 

 lie found that Kendall's drawing, in the Memoirs of the 

 American Academy, was generally correct, although the up- 

 per portion of the rock now presents a different appearance, 

 on account of the removal of fragments by excursionists. 



Dr. B. G. Wilder alluded to the reports lately contained 

 in New York papers, concerning what was alleged to be a live 

 gorilla in Barnum's Museum. 



From information given him by Dr. Hen*mann Hagen (of Konigs- 

 berg, Prussia), and by Mr. James H. Morse of New York, he Avas 

 satisfied it must be some large dog-faced baboon ( C ynoceplialus) . He 

 urged the establishment of Zoological gardens, in order to counteract 

 such attempts to deceive the people. 



PROCEEDINGS B. 8. N. H.— VOL. XI. 20 APRIL. 1868. 



