328 Eevieics — Hall and Clarke's Palaeozoic Brachiopoda, etc. 



" Palaeontology of New York," and are first issued in this Report on 

 account of the continued delay in printing the volume of quarto 

 plates which should have accompanied the conclusion of Professor 

 James Hall's and Mr. John M. Clarke's labours on the Brachiopoda. 



A Memoir by Mr. W. H. Sherzer on " Platycnemic Man in New 

 York" follows. The prehistoric remains of this type of humanity 

 are of frequent occurrence on the American continent, ranging from 

 Peru to Mexico, Florida to Wisconsin, from Ohio to New Jersey and 

 Massachusetts. It has been also recognized and described from 

 Oceania and from the Grand Canary Islands, and discussed by 

 Busk, Falconer, Broca, Guillemard, and others. The New York 

 specimens were obtained from Canandaigua lake, and are charac- 

 terized by the perforation of the humerus, the flattening of the tibia, 

 with curvature of its shaft and head, and compression of the femur, 

 all "simian characters departing from the normal human skeleton." 

 These characters, Mr. Sherzer considers, were not caused by 

 '• rickets," as by some maintained, that they can no longer be 

 regarded as a sexual distinction, for " they are now known to occur 

 in both sexes." He believes them to have been brought about by 

 corresponding similarities in life habits. The one common habit 

 capable of sufficiently reacting upon the skeleton of both eai'Iy 

 Man and the Apes "could have been none other than that of tree- 

 climbing, after the fashion of our modern Apes, with the soles of the 

 feet firmly pressed against the tree and the body held off at arm's 

 length." He notes further that the percentage of platycnemism is 

 greater among the most ancient remains found, and diminishes 

 gradually towards modern times, and concludes that arboreal habits 

 would be of necessity more resorted to in primitive times, when 

 man's powers of oif'-nce and defence were most limited. Thus the 

 tree-climbing and propensities of the youthful scions of civilized 

 races are satisfactorily accounted for. They are merely recapitulary 

 instincts repeating that period in the history of the development of 

 the race when man lived among green trees, still the most restful 

 and consequently the natural colour for the eyes. 



Mr. George B. Simpson next discusses, with the aid of numerous 

 illustrations, the " Different Genera of Fenestellidge," and supplies 

 a very useful " Glossary and explanations of specific names of 

 Bryozoa and Corals," previously described and figured in vol. vi of 

 the " Palaeontology of New York " and preceding "Annual Reports." 



The remainder of the Thirteenth Report is devoted to Part II 

 of "An Introduction to the Study of the Brachiopoda," by 

 James Hall and John M. Clarke, forming the concluding portion 

 of that excellent students' " Handbook of the Brachiopoda," of 

 which Part I was issued in 1894 (see Geol. Mag., Dec. IV, Vol. I, 

 No. 360, p. 279, 1894). This treats of the Spiriferoids, Atrypoids, 

 Rhynchonelloids, and Terebratuloids, gives concise descriptions of 

 genera new and old, accompanied with numerous woodcuts, many 

 of which are original productions and represent the results of long- 

 continued and patient research. The thirty-one plates of generic 

 illustrations which complete the handbook are especially welcome, 



