April 16, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



611 



posure to the strong sunlight of last summer 

 and the winds of the present winter, so that 

 many more are almost certain to require 

 removal during the next year or two. 



During the period of time covered by this, 

 report the herbarium has increased from 

 159,046 unmounted specimens, constituting 

 the Engelmann and Bernhardi herbaria, to 

 258,629 mounted specimens, protected by 

 impregnation with corrosive sublimate. 

 The library, which at first contained con- 

 siderably less than 5,000 volumes and 

 pamphlets, has increased to 23,257, valued 

 at nearly $40,000. 



Notwithstanding the provision of safe and, 

 for the time being, ample quarters for the 

 library and herbarium in the reconstructed 

 city residence, it has not yet been found 

 practicable to remove the numerous wood 

 specimens, and other unattractive but 

 necessary and valuable material, from the 

 old museum building, so as to free the latter 

 for other uses ; nor has it proved possible to 

 spare funds for the purchase of material 

 and the salary of an assistant who should 

 be charged with the installation and main- 

 tenance of a museum illustrating some 

 branch of pure or applied botany, such as 

 might be accommodated in this small build- 

 ing were it empty. 



Aside from an increase in the plant- 

 houses, and the accumulation of books, liv- 

 ing and preserved specimens of plants and 

 their parts, and a small collection of in- 

 sects, no considerable facilities for research 

 have been acquired at the Garden thus far, 

 the instrumental equipment of the School 

 of Botany being found available for all 

 necessary use by the few Garden employees 

 and pupils, and, as yet, no properly equipped 

 permanent laboratory rooms have been pro- 

 vided, adequate temporary provision being 

 made in the herbarium building and the 

 plant-houses for such work as has been un- 

 dertaken. While in some respects much 

 remains to be done, such facilities as have 



been secured thus far have been placed at 

 the disposal of investigators, of whom one 

 or more have occupied tables at the Garden 

 for a period of from one month to a year, 

 each season for several years past, three 

 such investigators having been accommo- 

 dated at the Garden during the current 

 autumn and winter. By direction of the 

 Board, a general announcement is made, by 

 a widely distributed circular, in the early 

 part of each year, that such facilities as the 

 Garden possesses, or can readily acquire for 

 any worthy piece of investigation, are freely 

 placed at the disposal of competent inves- 

 tigators. 



THE GANODONTA OR PRIMITIVE EDENTATES 

 WITH ENAMELLED TEETH. 

 The discovery of the forefoot of Psittaco- 

 therium in the upper division of the Puerco 

 beds (Kew Mexico) is one of the most 

 fortunate accidents in the recent history of 

 paleontology, because of its remarkable like- 

 ness to the foot of the sloth. This likeness 

 at once suggested to Dr. J. L. Wortman the 

 relationship of Psittacoiherium to the Gravi- 

 grada, or great Ground Sloths. Upon his 

 return to the American museum from the 

 field the entire collection was placed in his 

 hands, and it soon appeared that a series of 

 animals which had been referred to the 

 Creodonta, to the Tillodontia and to other 

 orders formed in reality a part of a genetic 

 series pointing conclusively toward the 

 modern sloths, especially towards Mega- 

 lonyx. The evidence is summed up in Dr. 

 Wortman's recent paper, as follows : 



* (1) In the skull there is great simi- 

 larity in form ; the muzzle is short, the 

 sagittal crest is low, and the occipital plane 

 slopes forwards as in Mylodon, Megathe- 

 rium and Megalonyx. (2) The lower jaw 

 is short, deep and robust, with a greatly en- 

 larged coronoid, a prominent angle, and a 



* ' The GanodoDta, and their relationship to the 

 Edentata.' Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., March 22, 

 1897. 



