January 14, 1904] 
NATURE 
253 
THE SANTA CRUZ FAUNA AND THE 
PRINCETON EXPEDITION TO PATAGONIA} 
ie is with the greatest satisfaction that we welcome 
the first-named instalment of an important work. 
The Santa Cruz Tertiary mammalian fauna is one of 
the most interesting and remarkable in the world, and 
we have now, for the first time, a guarantee that it 
will be described in a manner worthy of its importance. 
Hitherto this wonderful fauna has been but very 
scantily represented in museums outside of the Argen- 
tine, and in consequence students could gain only a 
very imperfect idea of its extent and affinities owing 
to the majority of the descriptions being of a more or 
less preliminary nature and inadequately illustrated. 
The acquisition by the Princeton Museum of the very 
large series of specimens collected by the expeditions 
to Patagonia under the charge of Mr. J. B. Hatcher 
from 1896-1899, together with a careful survey of all 
the other known collections, has now rendered it 
possible to publish full and adequate descriptions of 
all the more important types, and through the liberality 
of Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan the work will not be 
cramped for lack of illustrations. 
In the introductory chapter, Prof. Scott, whose 
name is a sufficient guarantee for the excellence of 
the work, states that it has been decided to describe 
the specimens with a degree of detail which would 
be unnecessary in the case of forms well represented 
in museums throughout the world, and this detail 
will render his treatment of the work practically ex- 
haustive. Some idea of the magnitude of the task 
will be gathered when we state that the present 
fasciculus of 106 4to pages is devoted entirely to the 
armadillos. 
From the general character of the Santa Cruz fauna 
Prof. Scott is of opinion that Miocene Patagonia was 
rather an outpost of the South American fauna than 
the main area of its development. So far as the 
Edentates are concerned, this statement is justified by 
the apparent absence from the Santa Cruz horizon of 
representatives of the true sloths and anteaters, which, 
judging from the comparatively slight differences 
between the Santa Cruz Edentates and their Pampean 
successors, must almost certainly have been in exist- 
ence at the epoch in question. This view is 
strengthened by the circumstance that many of the 
modern types of armadillos are unrepresented by 
ancestral forms in the Santa Cruz formation. : 
In general the Santa Cruz armadillos may be said 
to have attained the modern degree of specialisation, 
although in many details primitive features are re- 
tained. None of them, for instance, have an anterior 
solid shield to the carapace, which consists in most 
cases entirely of movable bands, although in certain 
instances a pelvic shield is developeu. The most 
aberrant type is the horned Peltephilus, which has a 
full series of front teeth. The reference to this genus 
of a humerus of a somewhat monotreme-like type is 
not supported by the Princeton collection. Following 
the lead of other American zoologists, Prof. Scott splits 
up the Edentata into a larger number of family and 
generic groups than has generally been the fashion in 
this country, the number of such divisions being, of 
course, largely a matter of individual opinion. Prof. 
Scott, it will be noticed, has.no hesitation in regarding 
the Santa Cruz fauna as of Miocene rather than of 
Eocene age. 
The collection and description of the fossil mammals 
1 “Mammalia of the Santa Cruz Beds—1, Edentata, Dasypoda." By 
WwW. B. Scott Rep. Princeton Exn d to Payagonia v., pp. 1-106; plates 
i-xvi. Pa Botany.’ parti. By P. Dusén, A. W. Evans and G. Macl. skie. 
Lbid., viti., pp. 1-138, platesi.-xi *‘ Narrative of the Expeditions and 
proeranhy of Southern Patagonia."’ By J. B. Hatcher. /é/d.,i., pp- 314, 
ustrated. 
NO. 1785, VOL. 69] 
and birds, although the prime, was by no means the 
sole object of the expedition, and, according to a pro- 
visional scheme issued by the publication committee, 
it is intended to issue a full account of the zoology, 
paleontology, botany, and geology of the districts 
traversed. In this scheme it was proposed to complete 
the work in six volumes of about 500 pages each, and 
to do this within a period of four years. Apparently, 
however, this scheme proved inadequate, for in place 
of the botany forming a portion of vol. i., we find the 
sections before us constituting the first part of an 
eighth volume, the whole of the first being devoted to 
the narrative of the expedition and geography. 
With regard to the botany, a very brief notice must 
suffice. The general characters of the vegetation of 
western Patagonia are described by Prof. Dusén, who 
directs attention to the sharp demarcation between the 
evergreen and the deciduous beech-forests respectively 
characterising the two slopes of the Cordillera, and 
also between the whole forest tract and the Patagonian 
sieppe. The Bryophyta are described by the same 
writer, but the Hepaticee are treated by Mr. Evans 
and the Pteridophyta by Mr. Macloskie 
The bulky and beautifully illustrated volume devoted 
to the narrative of the expedition and geography teems 
with interest, but here, again, limitations of space 
prevent our doing justice to its contents. Perhaps the 
most generally interesting section is the one describing 
the Tehuelche Indians and their mode of life, which 
contains a number of most excellent portraits of these 
interesting tribes, as well as illustrations of the manner 
ia which guanaco robes and other articles are manu- 
factured. Judging from plate 1., the Tehuelche girls 
are far from uncomely, but, as shown in the preceding 
plate, there is a sad falling off in personal appearance 
with advancing aye. 
So far as it is yet advanced, the work is an excellent 
example of the thoroughness of modern American 
treatment of scientific subjects Le JE 
PROF. KARL ALFRED VON ZITTEL. 
(EEO GT. and biologists throughout the world 
will lament the death of Prof. K. A. von Zittel, 
the accomplished palzontologist of Munich. For 
more than thirty years he had been acknowledged as 
the leading exponent of the science which is intimately 
connected with the progress both of geology and 
biology. For a_ still longer period his charming 
personality had combined with his wide reputation to 
attract to the Paleontological Museum at Munich 
students of the natural sciences from all civilised 
nations. Those who were unable to follow the pre- 
scribed university course were at least frequent guests, 
taking advantage of the unrivalled facilities for study 
and research among fossils which the professor’s 
laboratories and collections afforded. So highly 
appreciated, indeed, was the school of palzontology 
in Munich that Prof. von Zittel soon began to ex- 
perience the practical sympathy of several of his 
wealthy fellow-citizens, who had learned of his fame. 
In this manner he was provided with funds to equip 
expeditions and purchase collections of fossils beyond 
the means of most institutions of a similar character. 
The result was that the Paleontological Museum in 
the old Academy of Munich, already fine when von 
Zittel became professor, rose to preeminence among 
the museums of the European continent. It began to 
illustrate not only Bavaria and Europe, but every part 
of the world from which fossils were known; and as 
the collections were acquired, descriptions of all the 
important novelties were always quickly published, 
usually prepared by some student-graduate working 
under the professor’s direction. 
