392 A. Smith Woodward — Visit to American Museums. 



a series of free lectures, illustrated by the lantern, to the Teachers 

 of the Public and Normal Schools in the State of New York. The 

 lantern slides are largely prepared by the Museum, and the syllabus 

 comprises not only pure Natural History, but also subjects in 

 Geography. General public instruction is also one of the main 

 objects in all the exhibition galleries, and the collection is displayed 

 accordingly. In the Geological Department, for example, under the 

 charge of Prof. R. P. Whitfield, a series of table-cases is exclusively 

 devoted to the illustration of Dana's well-known Manual, of which 

 a copy is kept for the use of visitors. At the same time, the 

 Naturalist is not forgotten, and there is probably no Museum 

 of equally recent foundation that possesses a more representative 

 collection or more valuable type-specimens. Among Vertebrates, 

 the Mastodon and Irish Deer form conspicuous centre-stands : but 

 the other remains are comparatively small and scattered through 

 the collection, which is arranged stratigraphically as a whole, with 

 zoological divisions in each of the various stages. The principal 

 series of types was obtained from the James Hall Collection, which 

 comprises many Mammalian remains from the Tertiary Formations 

 of the West, and numerous examples of American Devonian Fishes. 

 The former are described in Prof. Leidy's " Extinct Mammalian 

 Fauna of Dakota and Nebraska " ; while the latter have been studied 

 by Prof. Newberry, and employed in various publications. The 

 type specimen of Sauripteris made known by Prof. Hall, from the 

 Catskill Group, is one of the most conspicuous of the ichthyolites, 

 and doubtless pertains to the family recognized in Britain under the 

 name of Ehizodontidse ; while another unique fossil is a cranial 

 shield of the Placoderm Asterosteus, showing the laterally placed 

 orbits, large narial openings, and a pineal foramen. 



Princeton. 



The collection of extinct Mammalia in the University of Princeton, 

 New Jersey, has become well known through the researches of 

 Professors Scott and Osborn, and is beautifully mounted and labelled 

 in the E. M. Museum ("E. M." being the initials of a benefactress). 

 The larger and more prominent specimens are placed on a central 

 platform ; while the smaller and more delicate objects are arranged 

 in an adjoining series of wall-cases. Conspicuous among the large 

 specimens, is the complete skeleton of a remarkable Deer, from the 

 Pleistocene of New Jersey, intermediate between the true Cervus and 

 Alces, and described by Prof. Scott under the name of Cervalces 

 Americanus. Accompanying this are two fine skulls and the greater 

 portion of the fore- and hind-limbs of Uinta therium, from the Bridger 

 Eocene of Wyoming ; the shell of a large Tortoise (Hadrianvs 

 Corsoni) also from the Bridger Eocene of Wyoming ; and an Ameri- 

 can Mastodon, besides a French Cave Bear and an Irish Deer. An 

 unique skeleton of the Creodont Mesonyx, described by Prof. Scott, 

 is shortly to be mounted and added to the exhibition series from the 

 Bridger Eocene, which is especially well represented in all groups. 

 A goodly number of the well-known fishes of the Green River Shales 



