August 24, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



305 



crease in protoplasm as described by various 

 investigators. In many fibers, however, 

 showing no other signs of degeneration, the 

 nuclei were no longer evenly distributed, 

 but collected in a longitudinal row near one 

 end. Fat occurs as a late product of de- 

 generation . There is no evidence that phag- 

 ocytes play any part in the degeneration 

 process occurring in the muscle. 



The Biogenetic Law from the Standpoint of 

 Paleontology: By James Pbkein Smith, 

 Stanford University, California. 

 This paper was a general discussion of 

 the repetition of ancestral characters in 

 the ontogeny of the individual ; dif&culties 

 of interpreting and correlating stages of 

 growth of the individual with ancestral 

 genera with illustrations taken from the 

 life history of fossil invertebrates and an 

 exhibition of ontogenic series of fossil am- 

 monites, and a discussion of the meaning 

 of the stages of growth. 



Reconsideration of the Evidence for a Com- 



mom cinosaur-avian stem in the Permian : 



By Henry F. Osborn, American Museum 



of Natural History, New York City. 



This paper will be printed in the Amer- 

 ican Naturalist, August, 1900. 



Relation of Dinosaurs to birds as dis- 

 cussed since 1864. 



History of opinion. 



Theory of descent from a common stem 

 form, Huxley. 



Descent from Iguanodontia, Baur. 



Gradual reaction of opinion to the view 

 expressed by Fiirbringer in '88, that Dino- 

 saurs and birds have descended from a com- 

 mon reptilian ancestor. 



Review of all the osteological resem- 

 blances between birds and Dinosaurs. 

 Grounds for a reconsideration of the prob- 

 lem. 



(a) The clawed quadrupedal ancestry of 

 birds. 



(6) Structure of the Permian Progano- 

 sauria. 



(c) Origin of the bipedal type. 



(d) Probability that birds and Dinosaurs 

 sprang from a common bipedal type in the 

 Permian period constituting dinosaur- avian 

 stem. 



The Reptilian Origin of Mammals as illus- 

 trated in the Structure of the Occipital Con- 

 dyles : By Henry F. Osborn, American 

 Museum of Natural History, New York 

 City. 

 Huxley's theory of the amphibian origin 



of mammals recently revised by Hubrecht 



and Kingsley. 



Difficulties in the theory. 



Theory of derivation of mammals from 



the Anomodontia. 



Tripartite structure of the condyles in 



these reptiles. 



Essential tripartite structure of the con- 

 dyles in certain mammals. 

 Mammal condyle of amphibian and not 



of reptilian origin. 



Structure, Relationship and Habits of the Eo- 

 cene Creodont, Patriofelis : By Henry F. 

 Osborn, American Museum of Natural 

 History, New York City. 

 This paper will be printed in Bulletin of 

 the American Museum Natural History. 



Discovery of a complete skeleton of Pa- 

 triofelis, Seeley by the American Museum 

 Expedition. 



Full description of this skeleton by Dr. 

 J. L. Wortman with theory of aquatic 

 habits of the life and of the probable re- 

 lationship of the aquatic carnivora. 

 Re-study of the skeleton, 

 (a) Skull and dentition of feline type. 

 (6) Feet transitional between raccoon 

 and feline type. 



(c) Probable terrestrial habits of this 

 type. 



(d) Insufficient ground for theory of re- 

 lationship of the Pinnipedia. 



