Maech 20, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



447 



much a result of creative energy as if a new 

 species were to arise out of the dust of the 

 earth" (pp. 380-382). 



It is of course almost impracticable by means 

 of isolated paragraphs to give any adequate 

 impression of a whole volume of observation 

 and discussion with a wealth of varied illustra- 

 tion. But we shall not go far astray, perhaps, 

 in summing up Prof. Williams' attractive book 

 as in great part a restatement, in terms of evo- 

 lution, of the argument for design in nature. 

 W. H. D. 



WINGE ON BBAZILIAN CARNIVOEA. 



In a recently published quarto of 103 pages * 

 Mr. Herluf Winge gives the results of his 

 studies of the extensive collections of Carnivora 

 made near Lagoa Santa, province of Minas 

 Geraes, southeastern Brazil, by Lund, Reinhardt 

 and Warming, and now in the Zoological 

 Museum at Copenhagen. The material thus 

 brought together owes its peculiar interest to 

 the fact that it consists partly of the remains of 

 living animals and partly of bones and teeth 

 from the earth deposits of the caves with 

 which the region abounds. It is thus possible 

 to compare the present fauna with the extinct 

 fauna of which it is the immediate successor. 

 As the author remarks (p. 79), the South Ameri- 

 can fauna is poorer in Carnivora than that of 

 any other region except Australia. The latter 

 was, however, probably isolated before the ap- 

 pearance of the order. While Lagoa Santa is, 

 for a Sauth American locality, remarkably well 

 provided with Carnivora, f the group is repre- 

 sented by only four families, ten genera and 

 twenty-five species. These the author arranges 

 as follows : 



* Jordfundne eg nulevende Eovdyr (Carnivora) fra 

 Lagoa Santa, Minas Geraes, Brasilien. Med TJdsigt 

 over Eovdyienes indbyrdes Sltegtskab. Af Herluf 

 Winge. Aftryk af 'E. Museo Lundii,' en Samling 

 af AfhandliDger om de i Brasiliens Knoglehuler af 

 Professor Dr. P. W. Lund udgravede Dyre og Menne- 

 skeknogler. Paa Carlsbergfondets Bekostning ud- 

 givet ved Professor Dr. C. F. Liitken, Kjobenhavn, 

 1895. 



t Bassaricyon, Cercolepies, Lyncodon and Mustela are 

 the only genera, except perhaps a few now extinct, 

 known to occur in South America, that have not yet 

 been detected there. 



FELlDiE : Felis tigrina, F. macroura, F. eira, 

 F. eoncolor, F. onca, Machierodus neogxus. 



Uksid^ : Canis azarse, C. vetulus, C. cancrivo- 

 rus, C. jubatus, C. troglodytes, Icticyon pacivorus, 

 I. venaticus, Ursus brasiliensis, U. honariensis. 



PEOCYONlD-ffi : Nasua narica, Procyon ursinus, 

 P. cancrivorus. 



MuSTELiD^ : Galictis Barbara, Cr. intermedia 

 (= G. allamandi), G. vittata, Thiosmus suffocans 

 (= Conepatus mapurito), Lutra platensis (= L. 

 paranensis), L. brasiliensis. 



Twenty-three of these are found in the cave 

 deposits('jordfundne'), while eighteen are found 

 living in the vicinity ('nulevende'). Two species, 

 Procyon cancrivorus and Lutra brasiliensis, now 

 occurring near Lagoa Santa, have not yet been 

 detected among the cave remains. As the 

 author remarks, however, this can scarcely be 

 taken as evidence that the animals have recently 

 appeared in the region. Among the Carnivora 

 whose remains are found in the caves are six 

 extinct species, and one, Canis azaree, which 

 though now widely distributed through South 

 America, has not yet been taken at Lagoa Santa. 

 The extinct species are Machserodus neogseus, 

 Canis troglodytes, Icticyon pacivorus, Ursus bra- 

 siliensis, U. bonariensis and Procyon ursinus. 

 Machserodus neogseus is one of the most highly 

 developed as well as one of the largest members 

 of its genus. It is also one of those which have 

 most recently become extinct. The Copenhagen 

 museum contains numerous remains of this 

 animal from La Plata. These, however, do 

 not differ from the Lagoa Santa bones in any 

 essential way. The two closely related bears, 

 Ursus brasiliensis and U. bonariensis, are in 

 some respects more primitive in structure than 

 other species of Ursus. They form, together 

 with Ursus simus, a section or subgenus which 

 is extinct, and as yet is known from South 

 America and California only.* 



Icticyon pacivorus is closely related to the re- 

 cent I. venations. It is more primitive than the 

 latter, of which it appears to be the direct an- 

 cestor. Canis troglodytes, also one of the extinct 

 species, has much the same general form as the 

 Old World C. alpinus. A detailed study of its 



*See Cope, American Naturalist, XIIL, p. 791, 

 1879, and ibid., XXV., p. 997-999, pi. XXL, 1891. 



