594 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 119. 



mals, show us how such a type of palate was 

 developed from the Ehynchocephalia, through 

 the Belodonts and the Teleosaurs. It is possi- 

 ble that the Gomphodontia originated from the 

 Proganosauria. 



We are fully convinced that among these 

 South African forms, one of which was for a 

 long time considered a mammal, we have those 

 reptiles which might be considered as ancestral 

 to the mammals or at least closely related to 

 their ancestors. Further finds and careful 

 critical observations have to decide this. 



The Cranial Region of Dimetrodon. By E. C. 



Case. 



The paper presented additional evidence of 

 the relationship of Dimetrodon incisivus, Cope, 

 to the living and extinct Rhynohocephalia. 



It was shown that in Dimetrodon there was a 

 common distal opening of the eustachian tubes, 

 as in the Crocodilia and aglossal Anura, and 

 that this opening corresponded to a deep pit in 

 the posterior part of the lower surface of the 

 basisphenoid. There was a large hypophysis, 

 which extended backward nearly as far as the 

 tympanic region, and occupied an excavation 

 of the lower part of the basioccipital, just as 

 the hypophysis occupies an excavation in the 

 basisphenoid in young Crocodilia. The tym- 

 panic region was not separated from the brain 

 cavity by a wall of bone, but communicated 

 freely as in. fishes and some amphibians. A 

 cast of a part of the brain cavity showed that 

 the posterior region was very similar to the 

 brain of Sphsenodon. The nerves all occupied 

 similar positions. The cerebellum was probably 

 thin antero-posteriorly, elongated from side to 

 side and elevated. There was a sharp descent 

 of the medulla in its anterior portion, forming 

 an angle with the part anterior to it. This 

 angle is very apparent in the brain of Sphsenodon, 

 but absent in most other Eeptilian brains, where 

 the medulla is horizontal or joins the mid- 

 brain at only a very slight angle. 



THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASH- 

 INGTON. 



The 261st regular meeting of the Society was 

 held Tuesday evening, March 16, 1897. 



Professor Thomas Wilson read a paper on 



' A Canon in Prehistoric Archseology,' in which 

 he said that the more widely extended is the 

 search for prehistoric man the greater will be 

 found the area that he occupied, and the more 

 profound the excavations the greater will be 

 found the antiquity of that occupation. This 

 is not meant to indicate that prehistoric man 

 occupied all the area of the world, nor that, 

 having once discovered his occupation of a cer- 

 tain area, an extension of the investigation 

 would necessarily show an extension of the area. 

 The theory maintained is that, having shown 

 his occupation of a certain locality, investiga- 

 tions made in other localities, or in other por- 

 tions of the same country, will show his increas- 

 ing and wider distribution and occupation. It 

 is a proposition announced by the foremost 

 prehistoric archseologists that prehistoric man 

 is not found in proportion to the number of sites 

 occupied by him, nor by the density of his 

 population, nor yet by the number of objects 

 which he has left, but is, on the contrary, in 

 proportion to the number of seekers. The 

 world has hardly yet awakened to a just ap- 

 preciation of the extent of the occupation of 

 the earth by man during prehistoric times, nor 

 yet to his antiquity. He used, as illustrations, 

 the reports recently made by archseologists of 

 investigations in two countries. The first, 

 Babylon, has resulted in pushing the historic 

 period back to a much greater antiquity. The 

 other country, the prehistoric occupation of 

 which has been doubted, if not denied, is Egypt, 

 and is the result of investigations and excava- 

 tions lately made by the Director-General of 

 Antiquities in charge of the Gizeh Museum. 

 He then detailed the investigations and results 

 in these countries, exhibiting a rare collection, 

 which he had obtained from Mr. de Morgan, 

 the head of the Gizeh Museum, to whom the 

 greatest credit is due for these researches. 



Mr. R. T. Hill then read a paper on ' Some 

 Phases of the Negro of the West Indies,' in 

 which he described the geographic distribution, 

 the difierence in type, the social and political 

 conditions of the negro in the several islands 

 and groups of islands. Obeaism, or voodooism, 

 is widespread in its practice and powerful in its 

 influence, nearly all of the common people 

 believing in Obeah, not only the blacks and 



