trie] remains of fossil cetaceans 451 



acters : "Teeth with cylindric roots, caudal vertebrae plane ; lumbar 

 diapophyses wide, flat ; muzzle elongate, slender ; cervical vertebrae 

 long." In connection with this diagnosis, Cope published figures of 

 seven cervical vertebrae, the manubrium of a sternum, and a rib, from 

 Cumberland County, New Jersey, which he assigned to P. grandccvits. 

 The type of the species was from this county, but it is not clear on 

 what ground Cope associated the specimens above mentioned with 

 the type, except that they were from the same locality, or how he 

 ascertained that the muzzle was elongated in the genus Priscodel- 

 phinus. Probably the latter assertion was based on the fact that 

 Leidy, in 1869, mentioned a portion of an elongated rostrum in the 

 Philadelphia Academy as probably representing P. grandcevus. 1 Ac- 

 cording to Leidy, it came from the same locality as the type vertebrae, 

 at a later date, and accompanied another lot of vertebrae. He re- 

 marked, "It is suspected to belong to the same animal." 



The fact that this rostrum came from the same locality as the 

 type vertebrae of a species of Priscodelphinus is an insufficient reason 

 for placing it in the same genus. It is well known that the remains 

 of many genera and several families of Cetacea are found in the 

 marine Miocene formations of the east coast of the United States. 

 Until a skull (or at least part of one) is found with some vertebrae 

 which can be identified with the type vertebrae of Priscodelphinus 

 harlani or grandcevus, under such circumstances that their connection 

 cannot be doubted, the real characters of Priscodelphinus can hardly 

 be determined. A comparison of vertebrae which have been assigned 

 to different species of Priscodelphinus with one another, and with 

 those of European genera supposed to be closely allied, will doubtless 

 throw some light on the subject. So far as present evidence goes, 

 there is some ground for believing that vertebrae like those of P. har- 

 lani can properly be associated with Schizodelphis, or, in other 

 words, that the genus Priscodelphinus will eventually prove identical 

 with Schizodelphis. 



In the meantime, I agree with Mr. Case that his species crassan- 

 gulum is only doubtfully to be associated generically with such 

 species as Priscodelphinus harlani, grandcevus, etc. On the other 

 hand, there appears to be good reason for placing it in the genus 

 Schizodelphis Gervais (= Cyrtodelphis Abel). 2 Dr. Abel's re- 

 characterization of this genus, under the name of Cyrtodelphis Abel, 

 is as follows : 



1 Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., (2), 7, 1869, p. 434. This rostrum was figured 

 by Case in Report of Maryland Geological Survey, Miocene, pi. 15, fig. 1, but 

 the scale should be 1 instead of J. 



2 See C. R. Eastman, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 51, 1907, p. 84. 



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