574 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XI. No. 276. 



Europe now included a most remarkable 

 diversity of life of Asiatic, North Siberian, 

 Oriental and African origin. The climate 

 was cold and relatively dry. The Reindeer, 

 first the barren ground then the woodland 

 variety, increased rapidly in number during 

 this period and constituted its most distinc- 

 tive form, hence this is known as the Rein- 

 deer period. 



This stage is famous for the skeletons of 

 man, the man of Neanderthal and Spy, very 

 primitive in the structure of the skull, the 

 oldest human skeletal remains with the ex- 

 ception of the Pithecanthropus of Java. 



III. Upper Pleistocene. Postglacial. 



As above observed there is a difference of 

 opinion as to the interglacial or postglacial 

 age of the loess. All the North Siberian, 

 Oriental and African types gradually dis- 

 appear, the modern European forest and 

 field fauna alone survives. There is some 

 evidence that both the Mammoth and Rein- 

 deer lived for a time in this period, the 

 latter being now confined to more northern 

 Europe. The Irish deer, Megaceros hibernice 

 the Reindeer, the bovidje Bos taunts, Bos 

 longijrons, and Bos brachyeeros, are the char- 

 acteristic ruminants. Aloes palmatus is a 

 postglacial Russian moose. The horse, E. 

 caballus, of larger and smaller varieties 

 was now domesticated and used for food. 

 The carnivora, rodentia and insectivora 

 were all of modern type. 



The detailed comparison of the Pleisto- 

 cene of Europe, America and Asia is still 

 under way, and very important results may 

 be expected from it. It will be equally ser- 

 viceable to American anthropologists and 

 paleontologists, for our own Pleistocene is 

 far from being understood. The stages 

 represented by our horse or Equus Beds, 

 which are usually considered Lower Pleis- 

 tocene, as well as of the Mt^galonyx and 

 Cave Fauna of the East remain to be exactly 

 fixed. Interest in this problem is greatly 



enhanced by the fact that we may at any 

 moment discover the remains of man or of 

 his ancestors associated with Equus excelsus 

 and positively demonstrate the existence of 

 man upon this continent at a period con- 

 temporaneous with his first appearance in 

 Europe. 



Henry Fairfield Osborn. 



CRUISE OF THE ALBATROSS. 



IV. 



Mb. Agassiz's final letter to the U. S. 

 Fish Commission on the voj'age of the Al- 

 batross is dated Yokohama, Japan, March 

 5, 1900. 



After coaling and refitting we left Suva 

 on the 19th of December, and arrived at 

 Funafuti on the 23d, stopping on the way 

 at Nurakita, the southernmost of the EUice 

 Islands. I was, of course, greatly inter- 

 ested in my visit of Funafuti, where a bor- 

 ing had been made under the direction of a 

 committee of the Royal Society, in charge of 

 Professor David, of Sydney, after the first 

 attempt under Professor Sollas had failed. 

 The second boring reached a depth of more 

 than 1100 feet. This is not the place to 

 discuss the bearing of the work done at 

 Funafuti, as beyond the fact of the depth 

 reached we have as yet no final statement 

 by the committee of the interpretation put 

 upon the detailed examination of the core 

 obtained, and now in the hands of Professor 

 Judd and his assistants. In addition to 

 the above-named islands, we also examined 

 Nukufetau, another of the Ellice group. 



After leaving Nukufetau we encountered 

 nothing but bad weather, which put a stop 

 to all our work until we arrived under the 

 lee of Arorai, the southernmost of the Gil- 

 bert Islands. On our M'ay to Tapateuea 

 from there we steamed to Apamama and 

 Maiana, which we examined, as well as 

 Tarawa. We next examined Maraki, an 

 atoll which is nearly closed with high 



