April 22, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



555 



Teleocer as major. Hatcher's type of T. major 

 proves to be a middle-aged male of A.fos- 

 siger, and his distinctioa of Teleoceras as a 

 genus supersedes Aphelops Cope, because 

 Cope originallj' applied the term Aphelops to 

 A. megalodus. deSuing. it as an Aeerathere 

 with only three premolar teeth in the lower 

 jaw. This is true of the type species {A. 

 megalodus), but this species should, so far as 

 we know at present, be referred to the genus 

 Aeei-atherium, in which the lower premolars 

 vary from four to three in number accord- 

 ing to age and individual variation, as in 

 the living rhinoceros. 



Oar abundant material proves not only 

 that Teleoceras is a rhinoceros with a 

 median horn on the tips of the nasals, but 

 that it is fully distinguished from the genus 

 Bhinoceros as follows : 



Lower 

 Horns. Premolars. Digits. 



Genus Rhinoceros. .Upoa auterior 



portions of nasals 4 in j'oun;:, 



3 in ajjeil in- 

 dividuals . .3-3 

 Genus Teleoceras . .V^on tips of 



nasals 3 in young, 2 



in aged in- 

 dividuals . .3-3 



The reduction of the lower grinders to 5 

 in T. j'ossiger (as compared with 6 in Bhi- 

 noceros) is a very important and distinctive 

 character, as it absolutely excludes Teleo- 

 ceras fossiger from the ancestry of any of the 

 modern rhinoceroses, and shows it to have 

 represented a distinct side phylum. 



EXCAVATION OF THE SKELETON. 



The Phillips County Quarry, near Long 

 Island, Kansas, was discovered in 188.3 by 

 Mr. Charles Sternberg, v/ho collected for 

 the University of Kansas and for the Har- 

 vard University Museum. From the latter 

 collection Scott and Osborn procured ma- 

 terials for the restoration which they pub- 

 lished in 1890. Subsequent collections 

 were made by Sternberg and Hatcher for 

 the United States Geological Survey, 



between 1884 and 1886. Later Professor 

 Cragin collected here, and in 1891 Mr. E. 

 P. West, of the University of Kansas, aided 

 by Mr. T. R. Overton, began the extensive 

 collections which led to the preparation of 

 the skeleton for the University under the 

 direction of Professor Williston. This skele- 

 ton, as mounted in the Kansas Museum and 

 described by Williston, gives a much more 

 accurate idea of this animal than the pre- 

 vious restoration by Scott and Osborn, in 

 which the chest is represented as far too 

 shallow. 



Its principal dimensions are as follows : 

 Length, not including tail, 9 ft.; height, 4 

 ft.; greatest girth, 9 ft. 4 in. 



The measurements of the American 

 Museum skeleton as mounted are: Length, 

 10 ft. 2 in. to bend of tail ; height at with- 

 ers, 4 ft. 1 in.; greatest girth, 9 ft. 2 in. 



From the above accounts, and especially 

 from our own observations, it is seen that 

 this quarry represents the deposit of some 

 stream or small river along which the 

 rhinoceroses herded in great numbers. 

 In this typical bone-bed are mingled in- 

 dividuals of both sexes and of all sizes, and 

 the proximity of one specimen to another 

 is not a certain guide. There are certain 

 spots, however, where considerable portions 

 of individual skeletons have drifted to- 

 gether. We associate the skull and pelvis 

 in our mounted specimen, for they are of 

 similar age and were found within about 

 six feet of each other, the skull being that 

 of a fully adult female, and the pelvis indi- 

 cating a corresponding age, because the ilia 

 are united above the sacrum ; with the pel- 

 vis, moreover, was found a part of the jaw 

 belonging to the skull ; also with this pel- 

 vis belong a femur, tibia and fibula, as- 

 tragalus, calcaneum and cuboid of one side, 

 several metacarpals and metatarsals and 

 two cervical vertebrte. The selection of 

 the other limb and foot-bones was made 

 from these as a guide. 



