NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 177 



Indication of an ELOTHERIUM in California. 

 BY JOSEPH LEIDY, M. D. 



Elotherhtm superbus, n. s. 



Prof. Whitnej' recently placed in my hands for examination a tooth of a 

 supposed carnivorous animal, from Douglas Flat. Calaveras Co., California. It 

 was derived from a stratum of the same age as that from which a lower jaw 

 of Rhhwceros hesperius was taken. The tooth appears to me to be the right upper 

 lateral incisor of a species of Elotherium, perhaps the same as E. ingenx of the 

 Mauvaises Terres of White River, Dakota, though it would appear to belong to 

 a larger individual than the remains referred to the latter, if not to a yet larger 

 species. The crown of the tooth is conical, compressed from within outwardly, 

 and subacute laterally. The apex is rounded ; the base somewhat expanded, 

 and at its fore part produced in a short embracing ridge. The fang is conical 

 and curved. Tlie measurements of the specimen are as follows : 



Length of tooth in straight line 292 lines ; length of crown 13 lin. ; breadth 

 9 lin. ; thickness 6i lin. 



Notice of some REPTILIAN REMAINS from Nevada. 

 BY JOSEPH LEIDY, M. D. 



Prof. J. D. Whitney has submitted to my inspection some fossils derived from 

 the Triassic rocks, of Star Canon, Humboldt Co., and from the Toiyabe Range, 

 north-east of Austin, Nevada. The specimens are very imperfect, but neverthe- 

 less interesting, and sufliciently characteristic to indicate apparently three 

 distinct reptiles having an affinity to Ichthyosaurus and Eosaurus, nor am I 

 prepared to prove that they do not belong to one of these. 



The fossils have been and are yet partially imbedded in a dark bluish silice- 

 ous limestone, and the same material has so completely infiltrated the bones 

 that they almost appear like modified portions of the same rock. 



One of the specimens consists of a mass of rock containing two vertebrfe and 

 parts of two others in series. The same rock includes two shells, which appear 

 to be Ammonites Blakei. Gabb, and Posodonomya stella, Gabb. The specimen is 

 from New Pass, in the Toiyabe Range, north-east of Austin. The body of 

 the vertebrte is deeply biconcave, as in Ichthyosaurus. The length is considera- 

 bly less than the breadth. The under side is plane fore and aft, but the mar- 

 gins are slightly prominent and bevelled. The sides are slightly concave, 

 and provided with a short and robust process for the head of a rib. The neural 

 arch with its spine, visible in one vertebra along the broken margin of the 

 specimen, rises above the body about one and a half times its depth, and its 

 abutment exhibits the remains of another articular process for the rib. The 

 neural canal is triangular. The measurements of the vertebrae, partially esti- 

 mated, are as follows : 



Length of body inferiorly II lines. 



Depth of body 16 " 



Width 16 " 



" including costal processes 21 " 



Height of neural arch, including spine from upper part of body, ob- 

 liquely 28 " 



Height of neural canal ^ 8 " 



A second specimen from Star Cafion, Humboldt Co., consists of a series of 

 eight vertebrte, partially included and held together in the matrix, and much 

 weather-worn where they have been exposed. The vertebra? may be part of 

 the caudal series of the same animal as the above, but the matter is uncertain. 

 The eight vertebrae together have a length of 58 lines, making about ^\ lines 

 for each. 



1868.] 



