658 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. I. No. 24. 



annual reports of the survej^ The fossils 

 of these beds (one of them, a turtle, from 

 the hill in question) were sent Professor 

 Cope, and are described by him in the fourth 

 annual report of the survey. He says : 

 " Its position is between the Loup Fork 

 and Equus terranes. The fauna is inter- 

 mediate and peculiar, as not a single species 

 occurs in it which has been found in ter- 

 ranes prior or subsequent to it in time. 

 The horizon is more nearly and strictly 

 Pliocene than any of the lacustrine terranes 

 hitherto found in the interior of the conti- 

 nent." E. T. DUMBLE. 



ON" THE CLASSIFICATION OF SKULLS. 



To THE Editor of Science : I learn from 

 an article by Dr. Harrison Allen (Science 

 April 5, 1895) that, in a paper entitled 

 ' Observations on the Cranial Forms of the 

 American Aborigines,' Proceedings of the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadel- 

 phia, 1866, 2.32, J. Aitkin Meigs classified 

 various types of crania, using nomenclature 

 which in some part coincides with that pro- 

 posed by me in my new ' Method of Classifi- 

 cation of Skulls.' 



I am very glad to learn that Meigs dis- 

 tinguished the various forms of human 

 skulls as early as 1866, as I have done 

 twenty-six years later. When two men, at 

 so great a distance in time and space, have 

 conceived a similar idea it is a strong argu- 

 ment that this idea is not a fantastic one. 



I first tested my new method in the 

 summer of 1891, examining a large collec- 

 tion of Malanesian skulls, and published 

 my first memoir in the spring of 1892, 

 which was translated into German {Die 

 Meiischen Varietdten in Malanesian. Archiv. 

 fiir Anthropologic, XXI., 1892). In the 

 same year, 1892, I had fortunately the 

 opportunity of examining more than 2,200 

 skulls of the Mediterranean and Russian 

 races, ancient and modern. I then sj^s- 

 tematized my classification, which was im- 



perfect, and distinguished varieties and sub- 

 varieties of human skulls in a systematic 

 catalogue of ancient Russian skulls. 



This method has the approval of many 

 Italian anthropologists, a notable excep- 

 tion being Mantegazza, a strange type of 

 man, and of some German anthropologists, 

 as Ranke and Benedict. The French an- 

 thropologists are indifferent, but they find 

 the method useful as an analysis of forms. 



The memior of Meigs is not known in 

 Europe. The only work of this author that 

 I possess is the Catalogue of the Specimens 

 contained in the collection of the Academy 

 of Natural Science of Philadelphia, 1857. 

 In view of the notice published by Dr. Allen 

 in Science, I am anxious to read the work 

 referred to, and I should be much obliged 

 if some American friend will procure a copy 

 for me. I shall be glad to refer to the work 

 of Meigs in a special note. G. Seegi. 



"University of Eome, April 23, 1895. 



SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 

 The Geological and Natural History Survey of 



Minnesota, Volume III., Part I. Palccon- 



toloyy. 4to, 1895, Pp. Ixxv., 474. Plates 



xxxiv. 



Considerable activity has been manifested 

 of late in a more careful and systematic 

 study of the invertebrate faunas of the 

 various geological horizons of this counti-y, 

 and several works upon the subject have 

 already been published or are now under 

 preparation. The value of a thorough ex- 

 amination and proper illustration of the 

 faunas of many of our geological divisions 

 will be very great to the stratigraphical 

 geologist, for many problems are now ob- 

 scure on account of the lack of knowledge 

 of the very criteria most important for cor- 

 relative purposes. 



What is most required in this field is not 

 so much the increase in number of species, 

 although many horizons even in the eastern 

 portion of the country have as yet been but 



