August 16, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



269 



Among the principal finds recorded may be 

 mentioned remains of a huge proboscidean, in- 

 cluding two femurs each over a meter in length, 

 a fine series of excellently preserved skulls and 

 other bones of rhinoceros ; Mesopithecus, an 

 old-world monkey, remains of which are rarely 

 met with in any part of the globe as fossils ; 

 several almost complete skulls of Mastodon; 

 skulls, teeth, and bones of Machserodus, the 

 great saber-toothed tiger, remarkable for the 

 great development of the canine teeth, and 

 also for its wide geographical distribution. Re- 

 mains of this animal have been met with in 

 England in Kent's Cavern, Torquay, in Cres- 

 well Crag Caves, Derbyshire, and in the Nor- 

 folk forest-bed. Dr. Woodward also reports 

 the discovery of innumerable bones of Hippa- 

 rion, the three-toed and most immediate prede- 

 cessor of the horse of the present day, hyaena 

 and other carnivores, antelopes, giraffe with 

 limb-bones very long and slender ; Hellado- 

 therium, a short-necked giraffe allied to the 

 Okapi, the new ruminant mammal recently 

 brought home by Sir Harry Johnston from the 

 Semliki forest in the Congo State ; and Samo- 

 therium^ a large ruminant, first discovered, it is 

 believed, by Dr. Forsyth Major in the lower 

 Pliocene beds of the Island of Samos, off" Asia 

 Minor, and said to connect Helladotherium and 

 the giraffe with some of the ancient aberrant 

 antelopes of Pikermi. Traces of Chalonians 

 were abundant and include, as one of the 

 prizes of the explorations, remains of perhaps 

 the largest tortoise ever found in Europe. 

 Very few bones of rodents were met with, and 

 birds do not seem to have been numerous ; but 

 a considerable collection of land shells was ob- 

 tained. It is curious that no traces of plant 

 life were observed. 



The bones occur on definite horizons in im- 

 mense numbers, and the marly material is quite 

 soft until it is dried, when it hardens. In 

 places the remains are so jammed together that 

 it is difficult to extract or to separate* them. 

 The carcases appear to have been buried entire, 

 with the flesh and integument, in vast num- 

 bers, probably by torrential action, a great 

 number having had their limbs sharply broken, 

 evidently at the time of death. It is worthy 

 of note that the extinct animals found in this 



late Tertiary deposit at Pikermi mostly relate 

 to the present African fauna. 



Dr. A. S. Woodward, it will be seen, has 

 carried out the official mission entrusted to 

 him in a most creditable manner. By his ex- 

 ertions and careful superintendence the na- 

 tional collection of paleontology at South Ken- 

 sington will be immensely enriched. Before 

 returning home Dr. Woodward, at the request 

 of Sir Edwin Egerton, has arranged to inspect 

 another ossiferous deposit on the island of 

 Euboea. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 



The permanent secretary of the American 

 Association, Dr. L. O. Howard, asks us to state 

 that those who have responded to his invitation 

 to send in their names and dates for special Asso- 

 ciation Pullman accommodation are so divided 

 in their choice of route that it will be impossible 

 for him to arrange to bring parties together on 

 the joui'ney in the way proposed. The Penn- 

 sylvania limited, which leaves New York at 

 9:55 A. M. and Philadelphia at 12:20 P. M., 

 reaching Chicago at 8:55 A. M., was not in- 

 cluded in the time-tables published recently in 

 this journal. Neither were there given time- 

 tables of the trains on the New York Central 

 road, though for those living in New York 

 and New England this is probably the most 

 convenient route, as it is cooler than those 

 further to the south. We may take occa- 

 sion to call attention to the excursion to the 

 Grand Canyon of Arizona arranged to follow 

 the meeting, of which an advertisement will 

 be found in this issue of Science. We are also 

 requested to state that the meeting of the 

 Council will be held at 3 o'clock on Saturday, 

 August 24, instead of at 12. 



The seventy -third meeting of German Men of 

 Science and Physicians will, as we have already 

 stated, be held at Hamburg, from the twenty- 

 second to the twenty-eighth of September. 

 Professor E. Hertwig, of Munich, is president of 

 the meeting, while Professor van't Hoff is presi- 

 dent of the scientific sections and Professor 

 Nauuyn of the medical sections. There are in all 

 twenty-seven sections for the medical sciences 

 and eleven in the natural and exact sciences. 

 The latter sections correspond in general with 



