816 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XI. No. 282. 



family was considered as " the forerunner 

 of the Viverrine phylum whose members 

 towards the close of the Eocene migrated to 

 Asia." 



The second paper by Dr. Wortman on 

 Oxycena lupina Cope, contained a full de- 

 scription of this species, typical of one 

 family of the Creodonta (flesh- eaters). Dr. 

 Matthews's paper was a careful tabulation 

 of the fauna of the fresh water tertiary of 

 the west. Professor Osborn contributed 

 his third paper on Dinosaurs making a com- 

 parison of the fore and hind limbs of these 

 extraordinary creatures, the dimensions of 

 whose legs, in some cases, {Brontosaurus) 

 reached the extreme limit of ten feet. 



This twelfth volume of the Bulletin closed 

 with a description of the Eskimo of Smith 

 Sound by A. L. Kroeber. These were 

 Eoss' Arctic Highlanders, and the subject 

 of Mr. Kroeber's paper was the six natives 

 secured by Lieut. Peary and brought to 

 this city in 1897. The implements of these 

 singular aborigines were described, and 

 their sociology, religion and cosmology. 



These Smith Sound Eskimo are regarded 

 as, ethnologically, similar to the Greenland 

 Eskimo, and claims for their distinctness 

 and insulation are repudiated. 



Their religion is vague, but practically 

 centers around the ' medicine man,' or 

 shaman, their morals dubious, and their 

 government formless. 



Amongst shorter papers in the tenth 

 volume was a notice of a superb specimen 

 of iladrepora palmata which Professor Whit- 

 field obtained in the Bahamas and which 

 now forms a conspicuous ornament of the 

 Coral collection in the Museum halls. 



These Bulletins of the Museum have 

 now an established reputation, and form a 

 feature as important in its scientific life, 

 as does the beautiful or appropriate exhi- 

 bition of its collections in its educational 

 work. 



L. P. Gbatacap. 



TEE VERTEBRAL FORMULA IN DIPLODOCUS, 



MARSH. 



In the Memoirs of the American Museum 

 of Natural History, Volume I., Part V., 

 Professor Henry F. Osborn has given a 

 careful and exceedingly interesting account 

 of the skeleton of a Diijlodocus discovered in 

 1897 near the Como Bluffs in Wyoming by 

 an exploring party sent out by the Amer- 

 ican Museum. 



In the summer of 1899 the expedition 

 sent out to the fossil fields of Wyoming by 

 the Carnegie Museum at the instance and 

 expense of the generous founder of the insti- 

 tution, succeeded in discovering a second 

 skeleton of Diplodocus, which furnishes in- 

 formation as to many portions which were 

 lacking in the specimen belonging to the 

 American Museum. The two specimens 

 are in many respects complementary to each 

 other. The specimen described by Pro- 

 fessor Osborn consisted of the left neural 

 arches of three cervicals ; eight posterior 

 dorsals lacking the centra ; the sacrum lack- 

 ing the first and second centra and consist- 

 ing of four vertebrte ; caudal vertebrae Nos. 

 1-21, and 23-27, complete with chevrons; 

 portions of caudals 32, 33, and 35 (esti- 

 mated) ; the ribs of the three posterior dor- 

 sals ; the left ilium and ischium ; the upper 

 three- fourths of the left femur, and the right 

 scapula. The specimen belonging to the 

 Carnegie Museum consists of eleven cervi- 

 cals, ten dorsals, four saerals lacking the 

 left sides of the centra, the twelve anterior 

 caudals, with chevrons ; eighteen ribs, two 

 of them imperfect ; the right ilium, and the 

 peduncle of the left ilium ; the two ischia 

 and the two pubic bones ; the right femur 

 entire ; the left scapula and coracoid coossi- 

 fied, and the two sternal plates. The work 

 of excavation has not yet been completed, 

 having been interrupted in the latter part 

 of September, 1899, by the advent of severe 

 weather. It has been resumed at this date 

 and it is hoped that further uncovering of 



