162 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 214. 



the precocious development of the frontal 

 horn, and the marked reduction of the 

 nasals, at once suggested to the writer that 

 this animal may possibly represent an an- 

 cestor of Elasmotherium, which, as is well 

 known, was distinguished from all other 

 Rhinoceroses by the smooth, narrow nasals 

 and enormously developed frontal horns, as 

 shown in the accompauing figures. It is 

 true that in A. incisivum the horns are small, 

 the rugosity, or horn core, being rudimen- 

 tary ; but in paleontology a rudiment is 

 almost invariably prophetic of a fully de- 

 veloped or^an in a later horizon. The 

 question whether this type actually marks 

 the first branching-off of the Elasmotheres 

 from the Aceratheres turns, therefore, upon 

 a detailed comparison of the skull and 

 skeleton of the two types. Both skulls are 

 dolichocephalic with high occiputs. A 

 marked difference is seen in the very narrow 

 space between the orbit and narial opening 

 in A. incisivum, as compared with the broad 

 space in Elasmotherium. These and other 

 difl'erences may be due to profound changes 

 which occurred during the Pliocene period, 

 for Elasmotherium is a well-advanced Pleis- 

 tocene type. Other profound changes which 

 would be involved in such a transformation 

 are in the loss of old cutting teeth and the 

 folding of the enamel in themolar teeth, so 

 characteristic of the Pleistocene form. 



Taken altogether, the evidence that A. 

 incisivum is an ancestral Elasmothere is, 

 however, decidedly slender at present, and 

 we must probably await the discovery of 

 intermediate stages in the Pliocene of Eu- 

 rope or Asia. Henry F. Osborn. 



REPORT CONCERNING THE OFFICIAL STATE 

 BUREAUS CONNECTED WITH THE JOHNS 



HOPKINS UNIVERSITY.* 

 I SUBMIT for your information the follow- 

 ing report concerning the Maryland Geo- 



* A report presented to the President of the Johns 

 Hopkins University. 



logical Survey and the Maryland Weather 

 Service during the past year. Much of the 

 work of these bureaus is carried on in co- 

 operation with the Geological Department, 

 and the offices are provided by the Univer- 

 sity free of all charges to the State. 



THE MARYLAND GEOLOGICAL SURA^EY. 



The Maryland Geological Survey, which 

 was established by an act of the General 

 Assembly of 1896, began operations upon 

 March 25th of that year, when, by the ac- 

 tion of the Commission designated by the 

 act, the organization of the Survey was for- 

 mally effected. The General Assembly of 

 1898 passed two additional acts which 

 added largely to the powers of the State 

 Survey Commission by providing for the 

 construction of topographic maps and the 

 investigation of the question of proper 

 highways for the State. By the first act an 

 additional appropriation of §5,000 annually 

 was granted, while the second act appropri- 

 ated $10,000 annually, the original appro- 

 priation of $10,000 annually by the As- 

 sembly of 1896 still remaining in force. By 

 these acts the Survey received the very gen- 

 erous appropriation of $25,000 annuallj'. 



During the two and a-half years that the 

 Survey has been in operation several lines 

 of investigation have been taken up, some 

 of which have already been followed to a 

 conclusion. The preliminary survey of the 

 State, in which general information in re- 

 gard to the geology and economic resources 

 was secured, placed the Survey in a position 

 to inaugurate those lines of investigation 

 which would prove most beneficial to the 

 people of the State and at the same time 

 would contribute most largely to the sum 

 of knowledge regarding the stratigraphy 

 and structure of Maryland. In connection 

 with this general survey there has been 

 maintained a system of collection of statis- 

 tical data regarding the output of each in- 

 dustry that has to do with the mineral 



