February 23, 1894. 
the neck region is short and the head brought nearer the 
shoulders. This diminution of the size of these vertebra 
is not confined to any one, but is shared by themall. The 
second, however, has a very large neural spine. The 
seventh cervical vertebra is peculiar in being closely re- 
lated to the first dorsal by its transverse processes, and 
the tubercle of the first rib articulates nearly equally with 
this cervical and with the first dorsal. ‘The first rib is un- 
usually stout, and its head is somewhat enlarged. The 
vertebree of the back and loins do not call for special 
comment; there are twelve dorsal and seven lumbar 
vertebre. It is perhaps worth while to note in passing 
that the lumbar vertebrae do not present any of those 
strong processes so noticeable in many of the rodents (as 
for example Lepus), but they are small and compact. 
The sacrals are, however, very exceptional in their 
character. There are five vertebre inthe sacrum. These 
are immovably anchylosed by their transverse processes 
into one piece. ‘Their neural spines are widened and thick- 
ened at the summits so as to form a longitudinal ridge with 
only small openings between the spines. In the same way 
the laminze of the arches are broadened and flattened to 
form an area sharply ridged on the margin and which 
posterior ly meets and anchyloses with a growth from the 
ischium in a manner somewhat recalling the pelvis of a 
bird. A somewhat similar condition is to be found in the 
pelvi of the two-toed sloth, Chelopus hofmanii. The first 
and second sacral vertebre are immovably grown to the iliac 
bones by a surface that extends over the entire inner side 
of the ilium of each side, and the third sacral vertebra joins 
partially in the formation of this articulation. The fourth 
is free laterally, as is the hinder part of the third, but these 
are completely grown to their neighbors, both before and 
behind. There are seventeen caudals. These are short 
and stout, and the anterior ones are supplied with strong 
processes for the attachment of strong muscles. 
THe ANTERIOR Limp.—A stout clavicle is present. The 
scapula is short and broad, its coracoid portion is drawn 
out into an unusually long process. The spine of the 
scapula is very high, and the acromial process is greatly 
elongate and drawn out beyond the level of the glenoid 
cavity. (Cf. Bathyergus.) An additional strong ridge 
traverses the posterior border of the scapula, to which the 
immense triceps isattached. The humerus is short and 
stout, its deltoid ridge is very strong and angular, the 
distal end is very broad and drawn out on either side into 
huge areas for muscular attachment. There is no en- 
tepicondylar foramen (though one is often present in 
rodents). Theradius and ulna are short and strongly 
compressed and furnished with sharp angular ridges that 
traverse their length. Vhe olecranon process of the ulnais 
very long and strong, as is to be expected from the huge 
triceps already referred to. Along curving bone, ‘ fal- 
ciform,” is articulated to the radial side of the wrist in 
addition to the pisiform bone. ‘This is the supporting 
piece for the great caliosity of the wrist. The meta- 
carpals are not of equal size, the first and second being 
smaller and the middle one being the largest. The first 
row of phalanges is short, and the second row is reduced 
almost to amerest rudiment; the distal, ungual, phalanges, 
however, are large, and the middle one is largest 
of all. This is with reference to the production 
of the immense nail, which is the chief one used in the 
2 The statement occurs in Flower and Lyddeker’s ‘‘ Vhe Mammalia Living and Ex- 
tinct,’’ p. 446, as well as in the article ‘‘ Mammalia,” in ‘‘ The Ency. Brittanica,” 
: from which the former is largely a reprint, that “in all existing forms of rodents the 
humerus has no entepicondylar foramen.’’ This statement 1s perhaps true in general, 
but there are a number of cases where the foramen is normally present. I do not know 
of any Hystricomorphs in which the foramen is present, and it is not present in the 
L eporida, but in many of the Suromorphs and Myomorphs it is present. I have ob- 
served ‘it in the following genera: Sciuropterus, Spermophilus, Cynomomus, Haplodon; 
and itis absent in Sciuras Tamias, Castor; it is present in the Myomorphs, Hes- 
peromys, Onychomys, Zapus, Dipodomys, C Ticetus, and absent in many closely allied 
forms, such as Mus, Tiber, Myodes, Cuniculus, Gerbillus, Ge eorychus, 
Alactaga, 
Geomys, 
S\CUEIN (Cle, 
103 
act of digging. This reduction of the proximal phalanges 
so as toallow a more direct pull on the terminal digit, 
where the chief resistance comes, is paralleled in the 
structures of the fore limb of cetaceans, for instance. The 
reduction of the neck in the gopher is also a similar case. 
Tur Posterior Liup.—The pelvic bone has already 
been partly described inspeaking of the sacrum. It isso 
peculiar that it will require a somewhat detailed description. 
The accompanying drawings will help to make the matter 
clearer. The iliac portion of this bone is divided on its ectal 
surface by a very strong ridge into two parts, above and 
below the ridge, respectively. This ridge, furthermore, 
terminates anteriorly in a hook-shaped process which 
projects obliquely outward and backward. ‘The ischial 
portion of the pelvis is drawn out into three strong pro- 
cesses, the most anterior of which is, as already stated, 
anchylosed firmly to the sides of the fifth sacral vertebra. 
The pubic portion of the pelvis is reduced to a narrow 
and very slight bone, which, instead of running inward to 
meet its mate and forma pubic arch, as is general in the mam- 
malia, runs parallel or divergingly, according to the sex of 
the specimen. In the female there is no symphysis pubis, 
the two sides being widely divergent, as in birds. In the 
male the pelvis is much like that of the female, but there 
is a narrow bridge of bone across the interval between the 
widely parted parallel pubic bones. The appearance of 
this leads one to regard it rather as an ossification in 
tendon than any portion of the pubic bone. Ihave not as_ 
yet, however, had the good fortune to see any embryonic 
material and have no proof to offeron the homology of 
this structure 
The femur is not nearly so stout as the humerus. The 
tibia and fibula are anchylosed, as is usual in Myomorphs. 
The fibula is very slender. The hinder foot is small and 
not peculiar, the work of digging being apparently con- 
fined wholly to the anterior limb. 
AN IMPEACHMENT OF “SCHOOL BOTANY.” 
HUDSON, VICE-PRINCIPAL STATE NORMAL 
SCHOOL, PLATTSBURGH, N. Y. 
BY GEORGE H. 
AND TRAINING 
I am in hearty sympathy with the protest in Sczence for 
Oct. 20, 1893, entitled ‘‘ A Mistake in Teaching Botany,” 
and for that reason cannot let the communication under 
the same title in Sczezce of Dec. 8 pass without criticism. 
To avoid confusion I wish it to be distinctly understood 
that the following remarks are made with reference to 
botany in the high school and not in the kindergarten 
nor in the elementary schools. Bearing this in mind, 
let us first take the statement of the critic, on page 318, 
that ‘‘ There was, some years ago, a disposition to begin 
the study of a science at the bottom and work upward, 
But a few years’ test showed the many disadvantages of 
this method, and the opposite, or older, plan has been 
readopted.”’ This statement is, to say the least, un- 
fortunately expressed. I have yet to see an arithmetic 
that begins with cube root and works downward to nota- 
tion and numeration, and I have yet to meet a teacher of 
this, the oldest of our sciences, who advocates such a 
course because the opposite ‘‘savors of book arithmetic.” 
I know of neither text book nor teacher who would take a 
high school class in United States history, begin with the 
Hawaiian affair and reverse the order of events until he 
had traced backwards the discovery voyage of Columbus 
and left him petitioning for vessels to enable him to 
reach the East Indian Archipelago by sailing out into the 
unknow n west; and I know of no reason why a ‘‘ natural 
history ” of the rise, progress, and condition of animal or 
vegetable life should take a similar course. 
An interesting lesson may be drawn from the com- 
