PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON. 99 



mittee should be appointed to collect information in reference 

 thereto. 



Mr. J. W. Powell desired to state his conviction that Arizona 

 and the southern portion of Nevada had within quite recent times 

 been the seat of considerable volcanic and seismic activity. 



68th Meeting. j,^^^^ 25, 18T4. 



The President in the Chair. 

 Mr. Theodore Gill made a communication 



ON THE STRUCTURE AND SHAPE OF PAL^OTHERIUM. 



(abstract.) 

 Mr. Gill referred to the recent discovery of a very complete 

 skeleton of a species of Pal^otheriu.n in a plaster quarry near 

 Pans, with the bones m place, and indicating its natural atlitude 

 This recalled the form of the Llama, a.id the speaker reminded 

 the Society that on a previous occasion, in a communication on 

 the TapiridsB he had contended that there were no near affinities 

 between tiie iapirids and Palaeotheriids, and that one of the latter 

 judging from the separate bones, had been quite erroneously ve- 

 stored by Cuvier under the prejudice that it was like the Tapirids 

 He then contended that the form of Pal^otherium was light and 

 slender and the neck long, and that the absence of any nruscular 

 scars like those of Tapirids, as well as the relations of {he bones 

 indicates that it had no proboscis. While the discovery of the 

 new skeleton has now authoritatively dissipated the idea of the 

 torra of the animal as delineated by Cuvier, the comments there- 

 on indicate that the idea as to the proboscis is still prevalent 

 Ihe speaker gave in full his reasons for denying the existence 



n ^ P'^^^^c'^'^ ^Q PaliBotheriids, as well as in Macranchenia 

 and the JJinocerata. 



Mr. Joseph Henry made some remarks 

 ON gifpard's injector. 

 Mr. Cleveland Abbe made a verbal communication 



ON THE LAWS GOVERNING THE MOVEMENT OF STORM CENTRES. 



