50 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [Dec. 12 
The |Biological Section then organized, Pror. H. F. Ossorn 
in the chair, Dr. Basurorp Dean Secretary. 
f, The following papers were read : 
J. L. Worrman, “On the Mammalian Fauna of the Lower 
Miocene. (White River formation).’’ 
F. M. Cuapman, ‘‘On the Origin of Bird Life in the West 
Indies.’’ 
G. S. Huntineron, “Note on the Ileo-colic Junction of Pro- 
cyon lotor.”’ 
H. F. Ossorn, ‘‘On a New Artiodactyl from the Lower Mio- 
cene.”’ 
The paper of F. S. Lez, “On the Functions of the Internal 
Ear,’’ was unavoidably postponed. 
Pror. Ossorn gave a brief description of the Miocene Proto- 
ceras celer, Marsh. Both male and female skulls of this remark- 
ably horned artiodactyl were reported as among the recent 
additions to the American Museum of Natural History. 
On the Ileo-colic Junction in Procyon lotor and Allied 
Forms. 
BY GEO. S. HUNTINGTON, 
Professor of Anatomy, Columbia University, New York. 
In presenting some points in reference to certain forms of the 
ileo-colic junction in mammalia for the consideration of the 
Section, I desire to make my communication a preliminary 
note, and to report, at a later date, the results of more detailed 
nvestigations at present in progress. 
The presence of a cecum in some form is such a widely dis- 
tributed feature of the mammalian alimentary canal as to render 
the absence of this structure a fact ef considerable morpholog- 
ical interest. 
More especially does this become the case if we leave out of 
consideration the orders of Insectivora and Chiroptera, in which 
the absence of the cecum is characteristic, and confine our 
attention to the isolated instances of lack of this structure in 
other groups. Narrowed down to these limits the absence of a 
distinct ceecum is noted in several Cetaceans, Physeter macro- 
cephalus, Delphinus delphis, Monodon monoceros ; further, in 
