Febeuaky 4, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



165 



In a third paper appears the translation 

 of Ameghino's recent summary of his re- 

 searches upon the geology and paleon- 

 tology of Argentina,* followed by a crit- 

 ical review of the same by the writer, 

 who has recently examined the Argentine 

 collections. He does not accept the evi- 

 dence of the very great age assigned to 

 the ' Pyrotherium ' and overlying Beds 

 and urges " that Seiior Ameghino should 

 show quite clearly why Pyrotherium cannot 

 be a close ally of the large Australian 

 Diprotodonts. It certainly differs from the 

 Proboscidia in some of the most fundamen- 

 tal characters." In theKed Sandstones with 

 Dinosaurian remains Dr. Santiago Eoth has 

 recently brought back a fine collection of 

 small reptilia.f One of these is a typical 

 and apparently fully-evolved snake, which 

 the author had no time to study in detail. 

 The others are small crocodilia, particularly 

 interesting because they are typical Meso- 

 suchia with the characteristic palate and 

 amphicoelous vertebral centra. They seem 

 to be most closely related to the small Pur- 

 beckian Thcriomahus and its allies, differing, 

 among other features, in their more highly 

 specialized dentition, and referable to a new 

 genus, which the author names Notosuchus. 



Another important note J relates to a new 

 specimen of Sterosternwn tumidum from the 

 State of San Paulo, Brazil, interesting as 

 showing for the first time the general pro- 

 portions of the trunk and tail of this strange 

 extinct reptile. Stereosternum was origi- 

 nally described by Professor Cope in 1S86, 

 and in the same year Dr. Baur made it a 

 type of the new Eeptilian order termed 

 Proganosauria. It is now evident, accord- 

 ing to Woodward, that the animal is related 

 in some undetermined way to the ancestry 



*' Geology and Paleontology of Argentina' Geo- 

 logical Magazine, Vol. IV., No. 391, p. 4, 1897. 



t Ceraterpeton Galvani, Huxley. Geological Maga- 

 zine, July, 1897. 



X stereosternum from Brazil. Geological Magazine, 

 March and April, 1897. 



of the Plesiosauria. The head is of an 

 elongate triangular form, but much shorter 

 than the neck. The tail possesses not less 

 than sixty vertebrse, of which the foremost 

 seven bear robust transverse processes. As 

 a whole the tail is thus somewhat more 

 than twice as long as the trunk, occupying 

 slightly less than three-fifths of the length 

 of the entire animal. Dr. Derby has also 

 obtained a typical Labyrinthodont tooth 

 from the Silicious Limestones at Conchas. 

 " In fact," Mr. Woodward concludes, " evi- 

 dence is gradually accumulating to render 

 it still more certain that the Karoo Series 

 of South Africa is well represented by 

 homotaxial deposits in the south of Brazil 

 and in parts of the Argentine Republic." 



A new specimen of Ceraterpeton* from 

 the Coal Measures of Castlecomer, Kil- 

 kenny, Ireland, is the second example from 

 the typical locality of Huxley's original de- 

 scription thirty years ago. This specimen 

 found by Mr. Robertson is of special im- 

 portance in making known for the first time 

 many characters of the scapular arch and 

 limbs. It now appears that the amended 

 definition based by Fritsch upon specimens 

 from the lower Permian of Bohemia does 

 not apply to the genus with which Huxley 

 was dealing when he originally proposed 

 the name. The generic name Seincoscmrus 

 originally applied by Fritsch to his Bohe- 

 mian specimens ought thus to stand. The 

 skull from the Coal Measures of Ohio de- 

 scribed by Cope under the name C. lenni- 

 corne seems, however, to be correctly placed 

 here ; but of this animal the trunk still re- 

 mains unknown. H F O 



CURRENT NOTES ON ANTHROPOLOGY. 

 DEFORMED SKULLS FROM GU.A.TEMALA. 



At a recent meeting of the Berlin An- 

 thropological Society Professor Virchow ex- 



*Ceraterpeton Galvani, Huxley. Geological Maga- 

 zine, July, 1897. 



