116 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XI. No. 264. 



the scattered fossils thus secured by representa- 

 tives of many institutions, there were five fixed 

 parties in the field. The three representing 

 the Field Columbian Museum, the University 

 of Wyoming, and the University of Kansas had 

 their quarries in the Freeze Out Mountains. A 

 few miles to the east was the Carnegie Museum 

 party under the direction of Dr. "Wortman ; 

 they found a very pi'omising locality in which 

 a large portion of a' skeleton of Diplodocus 

 was secured. To the southeast was the Amer- 

 ican Museum party, which continued the exca- 

 vation of the ' Bone Cabin Quarry ' with good 

 results, and four miles west of this point se- 

 cured a considerable part of a Broutosaur skel- 

 eton. In the quarry itself the greater portion 

 of a Mososaur skeleton was found in a very 

 much crushed condition. Altogether the gen- 

 eral work of the season will greatly advance 

 our knowledge of the Dinosaurs. At the same 

 time the beds in the Como region have been so 

 thoroughly explored that it is becoming very 

 difiicult to find these animals, and when found 

 it is very difiicult to take them out. 



Ear bones of Marsupials. — According to Rich- 

 ard Weil,* the ossicula auditus of the opossum 

 are not at all parallel in their development with 

 those of the pig, considered as a representative 

 of the Placental mammals. This tends further 

 to confirm the conclusion, arrived at from many 

 other grounds, that Marsupials are entirely to 

 be regarded as forms parallel to the Placentals 

 rather than as ancestral forms. As regards the 

 origin of the malleus, Weil's investigation con- 

 firms the prevailing opinion that it is derived 

 from Meckel's cartilage or the mandibular arch. 

 The incus also arises from the mandibular arch 

 and has no relation to the hyoidean arch. Mr. 

 Weil believes that Kingsley has placed too 

 much dependence upon the relation of the 

 nerves to these elements. Weil's results di- 

 rectly contradict the theory of Eeichert, Hux- 

 ley and others, that the quadrate of the Saurop- 

 sida is represented in the auditory chain of 

 Mammals, for according to his observations the 

 quadrate belongs not to the mandibular arch 



* Annals N. Y. Acad. Sci., Vol. XII., No. 5. Pp. 

 103 to 118, July 7, 1899. ' Development of the os- 

 sicula auditus in the opossum.' 



from which the Mammals derive their ear bones 

 but to the palatoquadrate bar. 



The Fins of Ichthyosaurus. — Professor Fraas, 

 of Stuttgart, describes the most perfect specimen 

 of an Ichthyosaur which has yet been found in 

 the famous quarry in Holzmaden. It exhibits 

 in a remarkable manner the structure of the fins, 

 having been worked out with the utmost care 

 by Herr Bernhard Hauff" for the Royal Geolog- 

 ical Museum of Hungary. Although partly de- 

 scribed by Owen, the complete dermal structures 

 of Ichthyosaurs were first discovered in the 

 Holzmaden quarry in 1892. Five specimens 

 have been found altogether in a somewhat re- 

 stricted part of the quarry. The skin impres- 

 sions are of a light brown to a deep black color 

 with a grayish slate blackground, and are so 

 fine that they must be exposed with the greatest 

 skill by the use of a fine scapel working under 

 a magnifying lens. The specimen here de- 

 scribed gives a perfect picture of the dorsal and 

 caudal fins and of the fin folds surrounding the 

 paddles. The irregular folds behind the dorsal 

 fin represent a displacement of a portion of the 

 pigmented skin from the sides of the body. 

 The caudal fin is remarkable in the elongation 

 of its upper lobe, but it is not at all evident how 

 this lobe was supported, since, unlike the sharks, 

 the tail vertebrse turn down into the lower lobe. 



H. F. O. 



AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATIONS.* 

 The most obvious indication of the success of 

 experiment stations as a means for improving 

 agricultural conditions in this country is the 

 steady increase in the number of stations and 

 station officers, and in the amount of financial 

 support which they have received from the 

 National and State governments. In the first 

 volume of the Record it is stated that in 1889 

 there, were 46 stations in the United States, re- 

 ceiving an aggregate revenue of about $725,000, 

 of which $600,000 was appropriated from the 

 National Treasury and $125,000 was received 

 fi-om State governments and other local sources. 

 The total number of persons engaged in the 

 work of the stations and at this office that 

 year was 402. In 1898, the last year for which 

 statistics have been compiled, the total number 

 * From Experimental Station Record. 



