10 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 79. 



zoic formations, Mr. Lacoe also sent to the 

 Museum examples of the Cretaceous and 

 Tertiary flora of Colorado, studied and 

 partially published by Lesquereux, and an 

 interesting lot of specimens of Triassic and 

 Paleozoic fishes and Crustacea, studied by 

 Cope, Hall, Whitfield and others ; also a 

 collection of 800 Dakota Group plants, 

 about 125 of which are described by Les- 

 quereux in Monograph XVII. of the United 

 States Geological Survey, on the " Flora of 

 the Dakota Group." 



A portion of the Collection will be placed 

 on exhibition, as soon as it can be labeled 

 and installed. 



Mr. Lacoe formally ofi"ered the collection 

 to the Museum in December, 1891, in a 

 letter to Prof. Lester F. Ward, an old 

 friend and correspondent, expressing his 

 belief that this disposition of it would best 

 insure the fulfillment of his purpose in its 

 formation, which was primarily to bring to- 

 gether in one place as complete a collection 

 as possible of the older fossil flora, for use 

 in scientific research, the conditions im- 

 posed being merely that the Collection 

 should be kept entire, with such additions 

 as may hereafter be made to it by exchange 

 of duplicates or subsequent contributions by 

 the donor ; that it be known as ' The Lacoe 

 Collection,' and that it be accessible to sci- 

 entists and students without distinction, pro- 

 vision being made for the proper preserva- 

 tion of the specimens from loss or injury. 



The acquisition of this wealth of material 

 makes the National Museum an important 

 reference center for all future comprehen- 

 sive work in this field. The Lacoe Collec- 

 tion is a noble monument to the public spirit 

 and generous enthusiasm of its founder. 

 G. Brown Goode. 



NOTE ON THE DEVONIAN PALMOS P0NDYLU8. 

 In my review of Dr. Dean's * Fishes, liv- 

 ing and fossil,' I have ventured to suggest 

 an ordinal name for the remarkable Palmo- 



spondylus Gunni, discovered by Dr. Traquair 

 in the Caithness Flagstones. I now give 

 reasons for so doing. 



The ^^Falceospondylus Gunni is a very small 

 organism, usually under one inch in length, 

 though exceptionally large specimens oc- 

 casionally measure one inch and a-half 

 *>!<*. It has a head and vertebral 

 column, but no trace of jaws or limbs ; and, 

 strange to say, all the specimens are seen 

 only from the ventral aspect, as is shown 

 by the relation of the neural arches to the 

 vertebral centra. 



" The head is in most cases much eroded 

 ^^ * *. It is divided by a notch * * >i« 

 into two parts >!^ * *. The anterior part 

 shows a groove the edges of which are ele- 

 vated, while the surface on each side shows 

 two depressions like fenestrge, though 

 perhaps they are not completely perfor- 

 ated, and also a groove partially divid- 

 ing off, posteriorly and externally, a small 

 lobe. In front there is a ring-like opening 

 =^ * * surrounded by small pointed cirri, 

 four ventrally, at least five dorsally, and 

 two long lateral ones which seem to arise 

 inside the margin of the ring instead of 

 from its rim like the others. The posterior 

 part of the cranium is flattened, but the 

 median groove is still observable. Con- 

 nected with the posterior or occipital aspect 

 of the skull are two small narrow plates 

 which lie closely alongside the first half 

 dozen vertebrae." 



" The bodies of the vertebrae are hollow or 

 ring-like, and those immediately in front 

 are separated from each other by percepti- 

 ble intervals; their surfaces are marked 

 with a few little longitudinal grooves, of 

 which one is median. They are provided 

 with neural arches, which are at first short 

 and quadrate, but towards the caudal ex- 

 tremity lengthen out into slender neural 

 spines, which form the dorsal expansion of 

 a caudal fin, while shorter haemal ones are 

 also developed on the ventral aspect." 



