658 



SCIENCE: 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 121. 



2. The diffuse stage of the placenta of some 

 of the anthropoids is apparently directly com- 

 parable to that of the lemurs. 



3. There is no fundamental distinction be- 

 tween a large free allantois and one which is 

 rudimentary ; it is merely a matter of degree 

 and not one of kind. 



4. There is no paleontological evidence as 

 yet deduced which proves that apes and lemurs 

 have arisen independently and that these two 

 phyla were distinct as early as the Meso- 

 zoic. 



5. The Santa Cruz beds of Patagonia in which 

 Momunculus occurs are probably as late as the 

 Lower Miocene. 



6. Anaptomorplms of the Lower Eocene is 

 much more closely related to the lemurs than 

 to the apes, but it has certain anthropoid 

 characters which indicate that some of the 

 latter may have been derived from this genus. 



7. Our present paleontological knowledge 

 indicates that the Old World apes have been 

 derived from a lemurine stock as late as the 

 Oligocene. 



8. Synthetic types as Adapis, Tarsiiis and 

 Mesopithecus demonstrate that apes and lemurs 

 are genetically related. 



It remains to be seen whether naturalists in 

 general will be willing to accept Professor Hu- 

 brecht's views as to the systematic position of 

 Tarsius, depending upon the connection of 

 placenta with the embryo (bauchstiel) and also 

 on the histological details of the former. It 

 seems probable that in foi-ming an opinion as to 

 the affinities of any animal the only judicious 

 course to pursue is to consider the whole organ- 

 ization as well as the development. As far as 

 I can learn from Professor Hubrecht's paper 

 he has not followed this method, but wishes 

 us to accept his conclusions hardly referring 

 to the structures of Tarsius which are iden- 

 tical with those of the lemurs and which occur 

 in no other mammalian group except the 

 lemurs. 



In conclusion I would like to call Professor 

 Hubrecht's attention to the following passage 

 from Burmeister's Monograph, which shows 

 that he considered Tarsius to be a lemur, al- 

 though Professor Hubrecht does not mention 

 this fact in his memoir: "Aber Tarsius ist 



nicht mal ein AflFe, er ist vielmehr nur ein 

 HalbafFe, ein Mitglied jener Gruppe *****; 

 Darin unterscheidet er sich von alien iibrigen 

 HalbafFen und steht eben desshalb so isolirt 

 unter ihnen da." It would be of interest if 

 other morphologists would enter into this dis- 

 cussion and give their opinions as to the sys- 

 tematic position of Tarsius. If I did not state 

 Professor Hubrecht's case thoroughly it was an 

 oversight on my part. 



Charles Earle. 

 New Eochelle, New York, April 7, 1897. 



THE COMING ICE AGE. 



To THE Editor of Science: In Science of 

 March 19th Professor G. Frederick Wright, in 

 his notice of the Coming Ice Age, says that ' ' he 

 is not sure that he has comprehended the au- 

 thor's meaning." And it seems that such is 

 the case where he writes that ' ' the theory of 

 the author is that a land conection between 

 Patagonia and the Antarctic Continent, or a 

 great diminution of the channel between these 

 lands, would produce an effect upon the ocean 

 currents favorable to the glaciation of both 

 hemispheres." This description is so inade- 

 quate that it may produce a wrong impression, 

 and so prevent a clear apprehension of what 

 follows in the review. One of the main objects 

 of my explanations has been to show that the 

 closing or diminution of the channel south of 

 Cape Horn would cause the tropical currents 

 to enter the southern seas in sufficient volume 

 to cause an age of mildness in the high southern 

 latitudes which would spread over the globe, 

 and the warm climate would continue until 

 the southern oceans through a slow process re- 

 tained water sufficient to greatly enlarge the 

 channel south of Cape Horn, and so cause con- 

 ditions favorable for the glaciation of lands 

 situated in the high southern latitudes, such as 

 is being performed to-day. Consequently, my 

 prognostication of a coming ice age is based on 

 the present enlarged condition of the Cape 

 Horn channel, which affords sufficient space 

 for the strong prevailing westerly winds of that 

 latitude to force the surface waters of the 

 southern oceans through the wide channel and 

 so onward around the globe. Therefore, the 



