714 



SCIENCE. 



LN. S. Vol. XVI. No. 409. 



ing teeth, which consist of two rows of verti- 

 cal columns or cylinders, quite separate above 

 but uniting below into one or two roots. " The 

 crown," the authors observe, " is an aggrega- 

 tion of long, cylindrical, column-like tuber- 

 cles, which are generally arranged in two 

 longitudinal rows, parallel to the longer axis 

 of the crown, and in three tranverse rows at 

 right angles to it. The enamel is extraordi- 

 narily thick, and the dentine, which occupies 

 the center of the column, appears as a round 

 section on the masticating surface." The 

 authors conclude that the animal had four 

 premolars and four molars [ ?] in the upper 

 jaw, and four premolars and two or four mo- 

 lars in the lower; the number of teeth is ren- 

 dered very uncertain, however, by the imma- 

 ture condition of this individual. 



Marsh described the teeth of Desmostylus as 

 consisting of nearly round columns loosely 

 united, and more or less polygonal in cross 

 section, thickly invested with enamel. He 

 stated that the nearest affinities of this Siren- 

 ian are with the Tertiary Metaxyiherium of 

 Christol, and the living Halicore. The num- 

 ber of columns in a single tooth of Desmosty- 

 Itbs is uncertain, but there are indications, 

 according to Marsh, of at least twelve or fif- 

 teen. The Metaxytherium described by Chris- 

 tol {Ann. d. 8c. Nat., 1841, Vol. XV., Series 

 II., p. 333, PI. VII.) was compared by him 

 with Hippopotamus medius Cuvier (' Osse- 

 mens Fossiles,? Ed. 1825, Vol. I., pp. 333, 334, 

 PI. VII.) ; its molars are brachyodont or short- 

 crowned, resembling those of Hippopotamus 

 and not at all similar to those of Desmostylus. 

 Dr. Matthew recently examined the Desmo- 

 stylus teeth, and agreed with Professor 

 Beecher that they are probably Proboscidian, 

 belonging to the anterior part of the jaw of a 

 young mammoth; somewhat similar teeth 

 have been figured by Leidy in his later studies 

 of the Florida mammoths. 



Just as this notice was going to press. 

 Professor John C. Merriam, of the Univer- 

 sity of California, kindly sent the following 

 very interesting note, entitled ' The Geo- 

 graphic Range of Desmostylus Marsh ' : " Ex- 

 cellent figures of the teeth accompanying the 

 text show the unknovsm form to be practically 



identical with the problematical Desmostylus 

 of Marsh, which was described from several 

 teeth and a few vertebrae obtained in Califor- 

 nia; the associated fauna is that of the 

 Quaternary or the late Pliocene. Since the 

 discovery of the type specimens, several teeth 

 of Desmostylus have been found on this coast. 

 The California State Mining Bureau has in 

 its Museum a fine tooth from Canores Canon, 

 in the foothills of the west side of the lower 

 end of the San Joaquin Valley. In the Uni- 

 versity of California Museum is a slightly 

 worn tooth with a fragment of the jaw lab- 

 eled San Jose. A third specimen, unfortu- 

 nately of unknown origin, is in the Museum 

 of the California Academy of Sciences. A 

 fourth from Yaquina Bay, Oregon, is in the 

 private collection of Professor Thomas Con- 

 don, at the University of Oregon. It is a 

 matter for regret that we have not become 

 acquainted with the exact occurrence of any of 

 these specimens. Those from California ap- 

 pear to have come from fresh water beds of 

 late Tertiary or Quaternary age. Regard- 

 ing the tooth from Yaquina Bay, Professor 

 Condon writes me : ' It was picked up on the 

 Yaquina Beach which is throughout marine. 

 * * * It was not the original finder who gave 

 it to me so I missed the opportunity to learn 

 whether it was loose on the surface or im- 

 bedded in the rock.' 



" All of the teeth mentioned have the same 

 structure as the type. In some of the Amer- 

 ican material there is practically a duplication 

 of the form of specimens figured by Yoshiwara 

 and Iwasaki. While a comparison of isolated 

 teeth in forms so imiaerfectly known as these 

 should hardly be considered as sufficient for 

 indicating specific identity, there can be no 

 doubt that the group represented by Desmo- 

 stylus hesperus Marsh inhabited both the 

 eastern and western shores of the Pacific. In 

 all probability it will be shown to have had a 

 much wider distribution than that now 

 known." 



The authors are certainly to be congratu- 

 lated upon this discovery, which is one of the 

 most important, if not the most important, 

 paleontological discovery ever made in Japan. 



