NA TURE 



193 



THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1885 



TERTIARY VERTEBRATA OF THE WEST 

 Report of the U?uted States Geological Suri/ey of the 

 Territories. F. V. Hayden, United States Geologist- 

 in-Charge. Vol. III. " The Vertebrata of the Tertiary 

 Formations of the West." Boolv I. By Edward D. 

 Cope. (Washington, 1S83-1884.) 



THE American Government has in many ways shown 

 the importance which it attaches to the diffusion of 

 scientific knowledge ; but in nothing has this been more 

 clearly seen than in the care with which the results of the 

 Geological Surveys have been published, and the liberality 

 with which these works have been distributed ; so that 

 geologists on this side of the Atlantic are well acquainted 

 with the magnificent quarto volumes in which the Reports 

 of the Geological Survey of the Territories have been 

 published. A number of these volumes had already 

 appeared under the directorship of Dr. F. V. Hayden, 

 when, in the year 1SS2, their publication was committed 

 to the charge of Major J. W. Powell, Director of the 

 United States Geological Survey. The work now before 

 us is the first Report of the Survey of the Territories pub- 

 lished since this change, and will take its place as the 

 third volume of the series. While fully equal to the 

 previous reports in the care bestowed upon the drawing 

 and printing, it is by far the largest volume which has yet 

 appeared, comprising, as it does, more than a thousand 

 pages of letterpress and upwards of one hundred litho- 

 graphic plates. 



Prof. Cope began this work in 1872, and since then it 

 has been carried on both in the field and in the study. It 

 was originally intended that the Vertebrata of the " Ceno- 

 zoic " and " Mesozoic " formations should form the third 

 and fourth volumes of the Reports, but such a large 

 amount of material has been obtained that it has become 

 necessary to limit the work to the description of the 

 "Cenozoic" Vertebrata, and this is to be divided into 

 four parts, thus : — 



Part I. Puerco, Wasatch, and Bridger. Faun;E (Eocene). 



Part II. White River and John Day Faunas (Low. and 

 Mid. Miocene). 



Part III. Ticholeptus and Loup Fork Faunre (Upper 

 Miocene). 



Part IV. Pliocene. 



The present volume includes Part I. and Part II. as 

 far as the Carnivora, the number of species described 

 being 349, included in 125 genera, no less than 317 

 species having been determined by Prof Cope. 



The explorations, resulting in the acquisition of this 

 splendid series of fossil Vertebrata, were conducted chiefly 

 by the author himself, assisted by an efficient staft', and 

 were carried on with much trouble and personal risk, not 

 only on account of the inhospitable country in which part 

 of the explorations had to be made, but also because of 

 the hostility of the Cheyenne Indians, who, in certain 

 regions, were during this time continually committing 

 depredations and murders. No little credit is due to 

 Prof. Cope and his able coadjutors for the manner in 

 which this work was carried to so successful an issue in 

 the face of many difficulties. 



Vol. XXXIII.— No. 844 



Before entering upon the description of the fossils, a 

 short account is given of the Tertiary formations in which 

 they were found, and an interesting and valuable com- 

 parison is made with the strata of the same age in 

 Europe. A significant circumstance, with which geolo- 

 gists are to some extent already familiar, is the different 

 story, regarding the age of these beds, told by the plants 

 and mammals. The determination of the age of the 

 formations known as the Loup Fork, White River, 

 Bridger, Wasatch, Green River, and Laramie Beds, 

 arrived at by Prof Cope from a study of their higher 

 vertebrate fauns, does not agree with the conclusions of 

 Mr. Lesquereux derived from his examination of the plant 

 remains. The table given at p. 44 shows, in each case, 

 the Flora a whole period in advance of the Vertebrata ; 

 for example, while the Laramie plants have an Eocene 

 facies, the Vertebrata indicate an Upper Cretaceous age : 

 and the fauna and flora of each of the other formations 

 show a similar discrepancy. 



The numerous Bulletins and reprints with which Prof. 

 Cope has liberally supplied us during the last few years 

 have made us to some extent acquainted with the progress 

 of the laborious task which he has undertaken, and with 

 the names proposed for some of the new types of animals 

 which have been discovered. Even with this knowledge, 

 however, one is perplexed, on first opening the book, with 

 the array of new names. The overwhelming amount of 

 material which had to be dealt with, including such a 

 multitude of new forms, no doubt made it necessary to 

 establish many new genera and species, and these would 

 require, in some instances, to be placed in new groups ; 

 but, notwithstanding this, it will probably be felt by many 

 paleontologists that it would have been better in some 

 instances to extend the limits of a group rather than to 

 make new ones. Be that as it may. Prof Cope has laid 

 us under no little obligation by giving us such a clear and 

 systematic account of his herculean labours. 



In the author's preface he touches upon the trouble- 

 some question of the rules of nomenclature. While 

 agreeing with the law of priority, as generally understood, 

 he gives half a dozen rules which have been adopted by 

 a number of American biologists. The main principle 

 underiying all these rules is, that a generic or specific 

 name given by any author, without a sufficient description 

 or definition, is not entitled to recognition by subsequent 

 writers. To this principle no naturalist will be likely to 

 take exception ; but, unfortunately, the manner in which 

 this rule has been applied by some authors has produced 

 a result which it is most desirable to prevent, that is, an 

 unnecessary multiplication of names. To take an in- 

 stance, a writer (A.) describes a number of new species, 

 giving them a generic name, without any definition, and, 

 to quote Prof. Cope, " In these cases it is left to the 

 reader (B.) to discover their [characters. Should he do 

 so, he becomes the real discoverer of the genus, and, as 

 such, is entitled to name it." No doubt Mr. A. should 

 have characterised his genus, and his name is not entitled 

 to be received; but if Mr. B. is a true man of science, he 

 will forego his right and " habilitate the nomen nudum," 

 rather than burden his brother-workers with another 

 addition to their load of synonyms, which is already a 

 burden almost too heavy to be borne. 



This volume is essentially a detailed description of 



