566 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIV. No. 1406. 



maturity. In my judgment it is clearly the 

 duty of the state to adjust taxation on grow- 

 ing stands of timber, provide adequate pro- 

 tection against fire and other destructive 

 agents, instruct the public in silvicultural 

 methods and encourage reforestation by pro- 

 viding planting stock. In return for this as- 

 sistance by the public, forest land must by 

 law be subject to public regulation which will 

 insure regrowth of acceptable species. Fur- 

 thermore this public regulation must be in 

 the hands of local boards whose function it 

 is to interpret the requirements of the law 

 in their particular locality. 



Constructive state forest legislation is only 

 in its beginning. It is your duty and mine 

 to assist in every way we can in making re- 

 growth possible. First, as American citizens 

 and voters we should work for increased 

 publicly ov/ned forests by the nation, by 

 states, and by local communities. Second, as 

 American citizens and voters we should work 

 for the reasonable public regulation of all 

 forest lands, based upon a system of coopera- 

 tion between the public and the private owner 

 that will make regrowth possible without, in 

 the long run, entailing financial loss upon 

 the owner. Third, as American citizens and 

 voters we should work for more liberal finan- 

 cial support of the entire forestry movement 

 by both the nation and the state. 



J. "W. TOUMEY 



The School or Pokestet, 

 Yale University 



OCCURRENCE OF PLEISTOCENE VER- 

 TEBRATES IN AN ASPHALT DEPOSIT 

 NEAR McKITTRICK, CALIFORNIA 



Pleistocene mammalian remains from 

 asphalt deposits located along the south- 

 western border of the Great Valley of Cali- 

 fornia have been known since 1865, when 

 Joseph Leidy reported the occurrence of two 

 horse teeth from near Buena Vista Lake and 

 referred the specimens to Equus occidentalis. 

 Further remains of this species from the 

 region of Buena Vista Lake were described 

 and figured by Leidy^ in 1873. Thirty years 



1 Leidy, J., Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1865, 



later J. C. Merriam^ described a fragmentary 

 lower jaw of the dire wolf, ^nocyon dims, 

 that apparently came from an asphalt bed in 

 Tulare County, California. 



The construction of the Taft-McKittrick 

 highway in the petroleum producing belt 

 southwest of Bakersfield has brought to light 

 a fossiliferous bed of asphalt on the southern 

 outskirts of the town of McKittrick. The 

 deposit is apparently located in a narrow 

 zone of asphaltic material shown on the ge- 

 ologic maps'' of the McKittrick oil region as 

 traversing the foothill region immediately 

 southwest of McKittrick. As mapped by 

 Arnold and Johnson this brea belt is associ- 

 ated areally with Pliocene and Miocene 

 marine beds and is found also in contact 

 with the alluvium of McKittrick Valley. 



The occurrence of bones in asphalt near 

 McKittrick was known for many years to 

 the Department of Paleontology of the Uni- 

 versity of California. Recently John B. 

 Stevens explored the deposit and secured a 

 number of specimens that were kindly pre- 

 sented to the University. During the past 

 summer a field party from the Museum of 

 Paleontology with cooperation and support 

 of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, 

 commenced excavations and made additional 

 collections. Grateful acknowledgment should 

 be made to the Midway Royal Oil Company 

 for permission to excavate and for valuable 

 assistance rendered during the progress of the 

 work. 



In the brea deposit near McKittrick a sur- 

 face stratum of hardened asphaltic mater- 

 ial reaches in places a thickness of several 

 feet. This layer contains numerous remains 

 of birds and mammals, apparently represent- 

 p. 94; Rept. U. S. Geo!. Surv. Terr., pp. 242-244, 

 pi. 33, fig. 1, 1873. 



2 Merriam, J. C, Univ. Calif. Publ. Bull. Dept. 

 Geol., Vol. 3, pp. 288-289, pi. 30, fig. 2, 1903. 



3 Arnold, E., and Johnson, H. E., ' ' Preliminary 

 report on the MeKittriek-Sunset Oil Eegion, Kern 

 ajid San Luis Obispo Counties, California," pi. 1, 

 U. S. Geol. Surv. Bull. 406, 1910; Pack, E. W., 

 ' ' The Sunset-Midway Oil Field, California, Part I., 

 Geology and Oil Eesources, ' ' pi. 2, U. S. Geol. Surv. 

 Prof. Paper 116, 1920. 



