OcToBER 13, 1899.] 
Pluerodira. The structure of this animal is es- 
pecially interesting and surprising, ‘‘since we 
should expect in such an old representative of 
the Chelonia, a low stage of development, 
whereas, this type presents directly the op- 
posite. The Pleurodira are generally regarded 
as the most specialized and highly developed 
group of Chelonia, yet this form shows all the 
characteristics of the family in their most com- 
plete development. The uncertainty which 
surrounds the origin and the evolution of the 
tortoises, is not therefore removed by this dis- 
covery, but on the other hand, is increased.”’ 
The Newburgh Mastodon.—The mastodon dis- 
covered about two months ago at Newburgh, N. 
Y., has now been more fully uncovered, but thus 
far proves to be an incomplete skeleton. The 
parts preserved are the skull, much injured by 
removal, both upper tusks, the vertebree be- 
ginning at the last cervical and extending to 
near the tip of the tail, 18 ribs on each side out 
of 20, a right scapula and a complete pelvis, 
and portions of the foot bones. No traces of 
the limbs have been found thus far, although 
extensive excavations have been made. Fortu- 
nately, Mr. Schaefer, the owner, has removed 
the bones with care, and treated them skillfully. 
Many very interesting observations could be 
made by a careful study and exploration of this 
locality. During a visit by the present writer, 
the following observations were made, partly 
with the aid of Mr. Schaefer. The deposition 
is in three levels, the two upper being separated 
by a smooth clearly defined surface, and by 
slight differences in the character of the soil, 
which is largely dark and thoroughly decom- 
posed vegetable matter, intermingled with few 
stones and very numerous remains of trees of 
various sizes. Examination of the latter gives 
abundance evidence of the existence of beaver 
in this hollow in the period of the mastodon, 
and we can easily imagine, that the different soil 
levels, were due to the building of successive bea- 
ver dams. When the dams were first comple ed 
~ the back flow of the water caused temporarily an 
interruption of the deposition of vegetation and 
may account for the differences of level above 
alluded to. The locality has been visited by a 
large number of people, including several well- 
known paleontologists. H. F. O. 
‘SCIENCE 
539 
SOUTH AMERICAN LANGUAGES. 
A DILIGENT and careful collecting of quaint 
and idiomatic words as found in the vernacular” 
dialects is springing up in many countries of 
America, and there are already a considerable 
number of printed records of this character. 
They are made to include also English, French 
and Spanish words which are evidently of an 
origin other than European. In many of them 
the Indian element is well marked, and even 
in countries where no longer spoken, words of 
Indian origin are remarkably frequent. Vocab- 
ularies and glossaries of this sort were com- 
posed by Pichardo for Cuba, by Membrefio for 
Honduras, and the Journal of American Folklore: 
contains many articles contributing knowledge 
for the same purpose. Recently the linguist 
Samuel A. Lafone Quevedo, M-A., has pub- 
lished ‘‘Tesoro de Catamarquenismos ; nombres- 
de lugar y esclabones aislados de la lengua 
Cacana,’’ Buenos Aires, 1898, octavo, pp. 379, 
a work which adds considerably to our insight 
into the ethnography of northwestern Argentinia 
in our century as well as in former periods of 
history. There may be 3,000 names and 
vocables of the Catamarea provincial dialects- 
discussed etymologically in Lafone’s volume. 
While some are pure Spanish, others belong to- 
one of the Kechhua dialects, as Amara or 
Kechhua ; others to Guaicmti dialects, whose 
domain is in and about the Gran Chaco. Others 
are supposed to belong to Uro, with main seat 
in the Bolivian plateaux and studied by Dr. 
Max Uhle; and a number are assigned to Cacan, 
an extinct language which Lafone has long en- 
deavored to reconstruct. It is, however, un- 
certain, whether Lule (with Tonocoté) or 
Allentiac, or Chilean dialects are represented 
in the names and vocables of the collection of 
this industrious investigator. We must con_ 
fess, moreover, that a North American finds his 
way only with immense trouble through the 
maze of Andean languages and dialects of 
which not one half has as yet been reduced to- 
grammatic rules. 
Another linguistic volume issued in the same 
year is due also to the efforts of Lafone-Quevedo. 
This is the publication of a manuscript grammar 
of the Toba language, spoken in the Gran Chaco, 
along the Paraguay River. It was composed: 
