^.')S Miscellaneous. 



for which the beds are explored, appear to have had their origin 

 from the Eocene rocks beneath ; these have also contributed 

 numerous remains of marine vertebrates, especially of sijiialodonts, 

 reptiles, and tishes. Mingled in the sand and clay with the phos- 

 phatic nodules and bones of Eocene animals are innumerable 

 remains of cetaceans, sharks, and other marine animals of perhaps 

 the middle and later Tertiary ages. Added to these arc multitudes 

 of remains of both marine and terrestrial animals of the Quaternary 

 period. There are found pell-mell together bones of Eocene squalo- 

 donts, animals related to the whales and seals, hosts of teeth of tho 

 great shark Carcharodon ovgKstidois, myriads of teeth of the 

 giant of sharks of the Tertiary period the Carcharodon mer/alodon, 

 bones and teeth of whales and porpoises, and abundance of remains 

 of elephant, mastodon, megatherium, horse, &c., and occasionally 

 the rude implements of our more immediate ancestors. 



From among a collection of fossils from the Ashley phosphate- 

 beds, recently submitted to his inspection by Mr. J. if. Gliddon, of 

 the Pacific Guano Company, the specimens were selected which lie 

 upon the table. One of these is a well-preserved tooth of a mega- 

 therium ; another a characteristic portion of the skull of a manatee ; 

 a third a complete tusk of the walrus, indicating a still further 

 point south for the extension of this animal than had been pre- 

 viously known ; fourth, a huge tooth of a cetacean allied to the 

 sperm-^vhale, probably the same as those from the crag of Antwerp 

 ascribed to Duiozij^lihis. Besides these there are the beaks of three 

 cetaceans of the little-known family of the Ziphioids ; these are 

 porpoise-like animals, without teeth in the upper jaw, and usually 

 with but a single pair of teeth in the lower jaw. The beaks, com- 

 posed of the coossified bones of the face, are remarkable for their 

 ivorj-like density, which probably rendered them available as weapons 

 of defence, 



A fourth beak from the same locality, presented by Mr. C S. 

 Bement, belongs to a different species of the same family. The 

 beaks and some associated fossils will form the subjects of a paper 

 shortly to be presented to the Academy, 



The beaks have been referred to species with the following names 

 and brief distinctive characters : — 



Choneziphius tracliops. — Supravomerian canal open. Intermaxil- 

 laries coossified and forming a crest along the middle of the beak 

 extending to the interval of the prenarial fossae, Maxillaries with 

 a rugged tract at the upper part of the base of the beak, 



Choneziphius Hops. — Beak proportionally of less length than in 

 the preceding. Supravomerian canal and intermaxillaries the same, 

 except that the crest of the latter in front is acute. Maxillaries 

 without the rugged tract at base. 



Efjoroziphius ccelopis. — A new genus as well as species. Beak 

 above forming a broad gutter as in Hyperoodon, and not divided by 

 an intermaxillary crest as in the preceding. Maxillaries with 

 prominent lateral crests at base, convex inwardly. Eight prenarial 

 fossa occupied by a thick osseous disk. Intermaxillaries coossified. 

 Supravomerian canal open. 



