Art. VIII.—WNotice of Fossil Bones from the eee oc 
femphis, Tennessee ; by, Jerrries Wyman :M. Dr 
ville, and, as is supposed, from the diluvium of the Mississippi. 
y are repregentatives of the following genera of mammals, 
viz.*Mastodon, Megalonyx, Castor, Castoroides. They all present 
points of interest, especially the last three, which belong to gen- 
era whose remains are either quite rare or but very impertect y 
sie 
s yet, our knowledge of the osteology of Megalonyx is far 
behing that of the allied genera Megatherium and wed ae its 
dentition likewise is but very imperfectly understood, any 
fragments of bones and teeth of Megalonyx doubtless exist in 
public and private collections in this country, which are yetun-— 
described. Any notices of individual specimens, especially of the 
teeth, which may be published, will be of great value to the pa- 
leontologist i in enabling him to form more complete ideas of the 
organization of this most interesting race of extinct animals as 
well as of its geographical distribution. 
‘he remains of Castoroides are exceedingly rare and are known 
only from a lower jaw and some of the bones of the entrees 
discovered in Ohio, and described for the first time by Mr. 
Foster from fragments of bones discovered by Dr. Dickerson in 
the neighborhood of Natchez, Miss., and ; cranium nearly entire 
found in the town of ae in New Yor Although the Cas- — 
toroides has so wide a ographical Pde: 2 sox the above con- — 
stitute the only rec aliticn | excepting the one noticed in this com- — 
munication, references to which have fallen under my observation. 
e remains of beavers in a fossil condition would seem from 
the absence of published reports, to be quite as rare as those of the 
preceding genus. Doubtless many of them exist in cabinets, — 
with the American species,) have been found in England, gen- 
erally in peat bogs,* in the ‘cade “of Perthshire and Berwickshire 
in Scotland,t and on the continent in the valley of the Somme 
British Fossil Mam. and Birds, Pi a: 
; Tpall Principles of Geology, vol. iii, p. 3 
