438 Prof. E. D. Cope—On the Proboscidea. 
a cycle within each corallite in C. Labechei, but are fewer in number 
in C. Battersbyi. 
Finally, it may be pointed out that in typical examples of C. Bat- 
tersbyi there appears to be the peculiar feature that the walls of 
certain of the corallites seem to be specially thickened, thus giving 
rise to strong vertical spines, which constitute a conspicuous feature 
in vertical sections. J have had no opportunity of observing the 
termination of these spine-like thickenings on the surface, and I am 
not clear as to their real nature. 
IJ.—Pror. E. D. Corn, on THE PROBOSCIDEA. 
(PLATE XIII.) 
HE following account of the Proboscidea, by Prof. H. D. Cope, 
appeared in a recent number of the “American Naturalist,”* 
and is so interesting, that we venture to give the more important 
part in full, and some few of the illustrations.—Hpir. Grou. Mac. 
“The Proboscidea are Ungulata, in which the second row of 
carpal bones has not moved inwards, so as to alternate with the 
first, and in which the second row of tarsal bones alternates with 
the first by the navicular extending over part of the proximal face of 
the cuboid. The teeth are modifications of the quadri-tubercular 
type, and canines are absent. To these general characters are added 
numerous subordinate peculiarities in the known genera and species, 
which make them among the most remarkable of living beings. 
These peculiarities are the result of a long period of development. 
It is one of the most curious facts of paleontology that the order 
does not make its appearance until the middle of the Miocene 
system, and the greater number of forms do not appear until the 
upper Miocene. That it existed earlier cannot be doubted, and that 
it originated from some Hocene Condylarthran is evident ; but 
the intermediate forms are entirely lost to us as yet; and the 
phylogeny of the order is absolutely unknown. This is the more 
extraordinary, since the earliest known genus (Dinotherium) embraces 
only species of colossal size, and its immediate ancestors could not 
have been insignificant. We may regard Phenacodus as the first 
form we know of earlier than Dinotherium, but what a hiatus is 
expressed in this statement. It is to be anticipated that the gap 
will be filled by discoveries in Asia, or the Southern Hemisphere. 
South America may be probably excluded from this prospect, since 
the extensive researches made there by Burmeister, Ameghino, and 
Moreno, have not resulted in the discovery of any Proboscidea earlier 
than the Pliocene. Asiatic investigations have revealed nothing, as 
the proper formations have not been found, and the same is true of 
Africa. So we shall have to wait until the paleontology of the 
present home of the order is exposed to view, before we shall know 
of the steps which lead from Phenacodus to these mighty monarchs 
of the animal kingdom. The absence of primitive Proboscidea from 
North and South America and Europe, impels us to believe that the 
representatives of the order known to us from those regions are the 
descendants of immigrants from Asia and Africa. 
1 No, 268, April 1889, pp. 191-211, pl. ix.-xvi. and nine woodcuts. 
