Vo1 ' 1920 XVI1 ] Correspondence 635 



In the absence of a subtitle, the reader would naturally be led to believe 

 that the study covered all plants and animals that formed the flora and 

 fauna of the Pleistocene or Glacial period throughout the world, in so far 

 as it has come to be known, including such other knowledge as may have 

 been contributed to the subject in this work. This, however, is by no 

 means the case; for, as its author explains (p. iv), "the area selected for 

 study includes only that part of the United States and Canada (east of 

 the Rocky Mountains) that was covered by the great continental ice 

 sheets. Deposits outside of this area, therefore, cannot be included, ex- 

 cept for purposes of comparison, as there is no way of deciding just which 

 interval they may represent. In fact, many of the records beyond the 

 glaciated territory represent deposits which were forming continuously 

 throughout the entire time of the Pleistocene, they not being greatly in- 

 fluenced by the great ice sheets. With this statement of the purpose of 

 the work, it is easily seen that the title 'Life of the Pleistocene' is not 

 inappropriate." 



The present writer fails to catch the point of this explanation, inasmuch 

 as were only the title of this work at hand, the person considering it would 

 surely be led to think that the life of the entire Pleistocene period was to 

 be taken into consideration. 



An especially useful and extensive bibliography is found at the end of 

 the work (pp. 404-448), and in the main this supports the author's argu- 

 ment with respect to his title, as, with but few exceptions, only such works 

 are quoted as refer to the Pleistocene of eastern North America — that 

 of the Pacific Coast being entirely ignored. 



Now those who are at all familiar with the fossil birds of the Pleisto- 

 cene are well aware of the fact, that quite a number of them have been 

 discovered in that area of North America covered by the work under 

 consideration. These have been chiefly figured and described by Cope, 

 Marsh, Sellards, and the present writer, and are reported from New Jer- 

 sey, North Carolina, Maryland, Nebraska, Texas, Florida, and perhaps 

 other eastern States, or from localities east of the Rocky Mountains. 

 Turning to the bibliography, we are surprised to find that none of Cope's 

 are cited; only one paper of Marsh's is entered, and that refers to a Mas- 

 todon; while the list of Pleistocene birds described and figured by the 

 present writer from Vero, Florida, are accredited to Doctor Sellards, or 

 the birds are not referred to by name at all, although the mammals are so 

 listed. 



As a matter of fact, the present writer has described more Pleistocene 

 birds, existing and extinct, from the eastern part of the United States, 

 than all other palaeontologists combined up to date. This omission is 

 to be greatly deplored, for in such a formal work as the one here con- 

 sidered, the ignoring of so important a group of vertebrates as Pleistocene 

 birds — the rarest of all fossil vertebrata — casts not a little doubt upon the 

 thoroughness of still other subjects treated in this volume. 



R. W. Shufeldt. 



Washington, D. C, June 25, 1920. 



