Gooawin.] ^^'* [Dec. IR, 



This species was found by Prof. Mudge near the locality of the Liodon 

 mudgei, six miles south of Slieridan, Kansas. 



It is only necessary to compare tliis species with C. intermedius, Leidy,* 

 as the G. iguanavus and 0. propython have depressed vertebral centr?, 

 Tiiose of the first are rounded, of the present compressed. The C. 

 intermedins also agrees with the two others in the obliquity of the 

 articular faces to the vertical transverse plane of the centrum ; in the 

 I)resent species these planes are parallel. This si^ecies is also larger than 

 the C. iguanaims, Cope ; the G. intermedius is smaller. 



There is another species from New Jersey to which it is more nearly 

 allied, a vertebra of which I have described under the head of Liodon 

 Imvis (Trans. Amer, Philos. Soc, 1869, 205), and figured 1. c. Tab. V. 

 fig. 5, under the erroneous name Macrosaurus validus. This probably 

 does not belong to the Liodon Icevis, which does not possess the zygosphen 

 articulation but is most likely allied to the present species, and a true 

 Glidastes. When compared with a vertebra from the same position in 

 the column as determined by the position of the diapophyses, the articu- 

 lar faces are still more compressed, and the inferior surface of the centrum 

 instead of being regularly convex, forms a plane separated from lateral 

 concavities by an obtuse angle. There is less exi^ansion of the margins 

 of the cup and ball. The size is also greater. I propose to distinguish 

 this species as GUdastes antivalidus, Cope. It is from the darker stratum 

 of the green sand near Medford, New Jersey. 



Obituary Notice of Samuel Yaughan Merhick, Esq., by Daniel II, 

 Goodwin, D. D. 



(Bead before the American Philosophical Society, December 16, 1870.) 



Mr. Samuel Vaughan Merrick, who died on the 18tli of August last, was, 

 at the time of his decease, among the oldest members of this Society. 

 Elected in 1833, his membership covered more than the average period of 

 a generation. His was a noiseless and unobtrusive, but an eminently active 

 and beneficent life, moving on like the current of a deep and quiet river, 

 silently depositing the accumulations of rich alluvium along its banks, and 

 bearing the freighted wealth of thousands upon its bosom. He was not 

 Avhat is commonly recognized as a gi'eat or a distinguished man. His life 

 does not stand out before us in bold relief, in marked individuality, leav- 

 ing upon the mere casual observer the impression of its definite outline ; 

 but was buried and mingled in the moving and surging mass of the world 

 around him. It might be thought fitting, therefore, to dismiss our notice 

 of him in a few passing words ; but to me there seem to be special rea- 

 sons, in this very peculiarity of the case, for pursuing an opposite course; 

 and I shall, therefore, ask the indulgence of the Society in giving a some- 

 what greater extension to this paper than is usual; though less, after all, 

 than the subject, in my judgment, demands. Great usefulness was Mr. 



* Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., 1870, p. 4, 



