Notices of Memoirs—Prof. Dames on Titanichthys pharao. 157 
been digging since the 7th, but in vain. His corpse will not be 
found until the spring. Meanwhile his widow is lying in a house 
which overlooks the place where her husband was overwhelmed. 
Avalanches have descended on both sides of the hill on which this 
homestead stands. The gorge which separates Davos from Wiesen, 
called the “ Ziige,” or the “‘ Paths of Avalanches,” is a mere wilder- 
ness of snow shot down from either side.” 
That the weather this winter on the Continent has been exception- 
ally severe is still further shown by the following extracts from long 
and numerous newspaper reports :— 
“ Heavy snowfalls were again reported yesterday from the central 
districts of Northern Italy, where it is stated that in some places the 
snow is as much as ten feet deep. The Alpine troops with the 
Carabineers, under the direction and leadership of the authorities, 
have been working heroically in the task of rescuing the people of 
the small villages which have been buried in the masses of snow. 
By the latest accounts more than 200 bodies had been taken out. 
The hamlet of Trasquera, in Piedmont, at the foot of the Simplon, 
has been completely overwhelmed by an avalanche. In the Bini 
valley five persons have been killed by an avalanche. 
“The strange coincidence of a violent thunderstorm and a heavy 
fall of snow occurring at the same time took place on Saturday 
morning in the Giant Mountains near Gorlitz, in Silesia. 
“Two avalanches have fallen on the famous hospice of St. Bernard. 
The church has been almost entirely buried in snow.” 
(Communicated by C. Davies Sherborn, F.G.S.) 
Ni @ eh sEy SS) Orn Vile VE@ TES: 
2. 
I.—Titanichthys pharao, nov. gen. et nov. sp., AUS DER KREIDEFOR- 
MATION ArGyprEeNS. By Prof. Dr. W. Dames. Sitzungsb. Ges. 
naturf. Freunde Berlin, 1887, pp. 69-72, woodcuts. 
OME detached and partially broken teeth from the Lower Seno- 
bh) nian of Hgypt are described by Dr. Dames under the name of 
Titanichthys pharao. The specimens were obtained by Dr. Schwein- 
furth about 10 kilometres west of the Pyramids of Gizeh, and, when 
complete, measure 60 millim. in length. They are laterally-com- 
pressed teeth, with a very long root, rapidly tapering upwards, and 
marked by deep longitudinal furrows. The enamelled crown is 
relatively small, and of an unsymmetrical arrow-head shape, over- 
hanging the summit of the root in front and behind, and thus giving 
the tooth a barbed character. The genus thus imperfectly indicated 
is regarded as new, and placed (with Hnchodus) in the Trichiuride ; 
if really undescribed, however, it will require another name, Titan- 
ichthys having been preoccupied by Newberry for a huge Placoderm 
(Trans. New York Acad. 1885). 
