450 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [VOL. 50 



vertebra from the green sand of Mnllica Hills, New Jersey, which 

 had been mentioned and figured by Harlan in 1824 as that of a 

 saurian. 1 Leidy dedicated the species to Harlan, under the name of 

 Priscodclphinus harlctni. 



I examined the type specimen of this species in Philadelphia in 

 the spring of the present year, and compared it with Harlan's figure, 

 which is a very good representation of it. The epiphyses, which are 

 anchylosed to the centrum, are thin. There is a distinct keel, the out- 

 line of which is concave when viewed from the side. The transverse 

 processes are recurved at the end and thickened, and have a rounded 

 ridge superiorly near the posterior margin. The articular surface 

 for the rib is oval in outline. The superior surface of the centrum 

 is very concave, with a narrow median ridge reaching nearly to the 

 epiphyses at both ends. 



Cope in 1868 2 remarked that there were a few more vertebrae of 

 this species in the collection of the Philadelphia Academy, but I did 

 not find them. In 1890 Cope united P. harlani with P. grandccvus 

 Leidy, 3 but, as Leidy had pointed out previously, the latter appears 

 to be a considerably larger species. However this may be, Leidy 

 himself placed grandcevus in the genus Priscodclphiiius, and the spe- 

 cies was described at the same time with harlani. Various other 

 species based on vertebrae were assigned to Priscodclphinus by Leidy 

 and Cope from time to time. The characters of a genus, however, 

 are not properly elucidated by such material. 



Cope's diagnosis of Priscodclphinus, published in 1868, * relates 

 entirely to the vertebrae, but in referring to it in the previous year 

 (1867) he remarked: "In this genus the muzzle is elongate and flat- 

 tened, and furnished with cylindrical fanged teeth, which extend 

 throughout much or all of its length. The symphysis mandibuli is 

 very elongate. The teeth have not been described. Dclphinus canalic- 

 ulatus von Meyer ( Palaeontographica, 1856, p. 44), from the Swiss 

 Tertiary, appears to belong to it.""' In 1890° he stated that P. 

 grandccvus had "a slender muzzle, with a full series of curved cylin- 

 dric teeth ; a neck like that of a seal in proportions, and a long slen- 

 der body. The first sternal segment is T-shaped, and the ribs are 

 slender, compressed, and mostly two-headed." His diagnosis of 

 the genus, published at the same time, comprises the following char- 



1 Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 4, 1824, p. 232, pi. 14, fig. 1. 



a Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1868, p. 159. 



3 Amer. Nat., 1890, p. 615. 



4 Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1868, pp. 186, 187. 



" hoc. cit, 1867, p. 145. 



6 Amer. Nat., 1890, p. 604. 



