February 12, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



253 



not clearly different from that seen in sea 

 water. The synthetic artificial solution 

 seemed equally favorable to most forms, 

 but distinctly less so to a few. 



Francis B. Sumner. 



SOCIETY OF TEE VERTEBRATE PALEON- 

 TOLOGISTS OF AMERICA. 



The second meeting of this society was 

 held at Philadelphia, December 29, 1903, 

 in the Biological Hall of the University of 

 Pennsylvania. In the absence of the presi- 

 dent, Professor S. W. Williston, the chair 

 was taken by Professor H. F. Osborn. 



The following are abstracts of papers 

 which were read and discussed: 



A RemarliObly Preserved Specimen of a 

 Pelycosaur Collected During the Last 

 Summer in Texas: Dr. E. C. Case. 

 The specimen has afforded a nearly com- 

 plete skull and the anterior part of the 

 vertebral column, with the incomplete fore 

 limbs of both sides. The most important 

 addition to our knowledge is in the anat- 

 omy of the articular region of the skull 

 and lower jaw. The specimen shows that 

 the author, in collaboration with Dr. Baur, 

 was in error in ascribing to the articular 

 region of the skull what belongs to the 

 articular region of the lower jaw. The 

 quadrate is, therefore, not a depressed bone 

 largely covered by the bones of the tem- 

 poral region, squamosal and jugal, but it 

 is elevated and very similar in appearance 

 and relations to the same bone in Sphen- 

 odon. There is a foramen between the 

 lower end of the quadrate- jugal and the 

 quadrate, as in Sphenodon. The finding 

 of this foramen removes the last possible 

 question as to the position of the Pelyco- 

 sauria in the order Rhynchocephalia. 

 There are two temporal arches present. 



In the Matter of Menaspis: Dr. Bashpord 

 Dean, Columbia College. 

 Professor Bashford Dean discussed the 



relationship of the puzzling Permian fish, 

 Menaspis, pointing out that on the evidence 

 of an unfigured specimen in the Berlin 

 Museum, which, thanks to the courtesy of 

 Professor Jaekel, he had recently had the 

 privilege of examining, there were grounds 

 for regarding this form as distinctly chim- 

 ffiroid. The present specimen retains the 

 dental plates, and from their size leads us 

 to eonckide that the region of the fossil 

 regarded by earlier writers as the hindmost 

 trunk region (terminating in blunt spines) 

 is in reality the occiput. He compared the 

 tuberculated spines of Menaspis with those 

 of Myriacanthus , referring especially to an 

 unfigured specimen of this form to which 

 Professor E. T. Newton called his attention 

 in the Paleontological Museum in Jermyn 

 Street. The puzzling non-tubereulated 

 spines of Menaspis, on the other hand, best 

 correspond to the so-called lip cartilages 

 of Squaloraja. Such structures, moreover, 

 would be apt to take a position dorsal to the 

 antero-ventral lateral he^d spines during 

 fossilization. Accepting this comparison, 

 Menaspis indicates that in matters of 

 dermal defenses and teeth the Permian 

 chimffiroid resembled contemporary cestra- 

 ciont sharks. 



On Some Famous Old Collections and 

 Early Studies of Monte Bolca Fishes: 

 G. R. Eastman. 



This paper reviewed the pre-Linnsean 

 discussions as to the nature and origin of 

 the famous fossil fish fauna of Monte Bolca, 

 in northern Italy, with a notice of the prin- 

 cipal contributions to the literature made 

 during the last century. The history was 

 given of several large Veronese collections 

 containing important type material, and 

 where the latter had become dispersed, the 

 present location was indicated of such as is 

 now preserved amongst different museums. 



