Cope] 286 [March i., 



six lines. Tlie foramina of the external series are more nnmeron,s than in 

 any of the other species from the Miocene of our Eastern States. As in 

 others the last pairs are less spaced than the anterior. In a space of six 

 inches and twenty lines, there are six foramina, the third from behind 

 nine lines below the superior margin. Thirty-four lines separate the an- 

 terior pair ; twenty-two the posterior. The last foramen is about a half 

 an inch anterior to the plane of the last one of the inner side. 



Feet. Lines. 



Length of fragment 3 42 



Depth just behind coronoid 56 



" " in front of coronoid 66 



' ' at fourth inner foramen 62 



Diameter " " " 27 



This ramus chiefly resembles that of Eschr. cephalus from Maryland. 

 It is less compressed, though crushed, and less attenuated on the upper 

 margin near coronoid process ; the coronoid process considerably smaller. 

 Outer series of pores more numerous and extending further back. Inner 

 in a marked groove, which is wanting inE. cephalus. Outer wall of 

 angular region more everted. Inferior wall of dental or mandibular canal 

 descending from margin of foramen in E. cephalus and ascending in E. 

 polyporus. 



From the Miocene Marl of Edgecombe Co., North Carolina. Obtained 

 by the writer under the auspices of the North Carolina State Geological 

 Survey, under Prof. Wm. C. Kerr, Director. 



Yertebrse, which as to size and structure would accord with the present 

 species, are not uncommon in the same deposit ; their description is re- 

 served for a future occasion. 



MESOTEEAS, Cope. 



Genus novum. 



Character. Orbital process of frontal narroAved, exceedingly thick and 

 massive at the extremity. Posterior lumbars and anterior caudals with 

 short antero-posterior diameter. Premasillary and maxillary bones de- 

 pressed, the latter thin, horizontal, narrow. Otic bulla compressed. 



This genius is allied to Balaena in the form of its vertebrse, and to some 

 extent in that of its frontal bone. The flatness of the maxillary and pre- 

 maxillary is rather that of Balaenoptera. The extraordinary mass of the 

 superciliary portion of the frontal is peculiar to the species which forms 

 the type of the genus so far as known. 



Mesotekas kerriakus. Cope. 



Species nova. 



This species was discovered by Prof. Wm. C. Kerr, Director of the Geo- 

 logical Survey of North Carohna, in a bed of miocene marl, at a point 

 where it is cut by Quanky Creek, a tributary of the Roanoke river, in 

 Halifax county, North Carolina. A portion of the cranium had been no- 

 ticed for some years projecting from the steep bank or waU of the small 

 caiion of the creek, at about thirty feet below the surface of the ground. 



