166 A NEW FOSSIL PORPOISE FROM MARYLAND. 



of Natural History. I wish to express my obligations also for valuable assistance 

 and information received from Mr. Witmer Stone, Dr. Wm. Bullock Clark 

 Mr. E. W. Berry, Prof. A. B. Bibbins, Dr. C. R. Eastman, Dr. W. D. Matthew' 

 Dr. Paul M. Rea, and Mr. H. H. Brimley. 



Numerous species of North American fossil cetaceans, as is well known, have 

 been described from single teeth, a vertebra or two, or some other equally inade- 

 quate material, representing only a very small portion of the complete skeleton. 

 In making known the more important remains now at hand, it has seemed to me 

 best to describe them under new names when they cannot be positively identified 

 with some form already characterized. It may be necessary at a later date to 

 throw some of the names into synonymy, but this is perhaps a less evil than that 

 important remains should bear a name which is of doubtful validity. It is, 

 indeed, probable that the nomenclature of both American and European genera 

 and species will need to be considerably modified when the Tertiary cetaceans 

 are better known. 



The fossil remains which, by permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, will be described in this paper, comprise the larger part of a skeleton 

 (Catalogue Number 7278, U. S. Nat. Mus.), obtained from the Calvert Cliffs, 

 Calvert County, Maryland, on the west shore of Chesapeake Bay, one mile 

 south of Chesapeake Beach. The skeleton was collected by Mr. Wm. Palmer, 

 of the U. S. National Museum, on May 30, 1908. It was dug out of a stratum 

 designated by the letter B on a sketch prepared by Mr. Palmer, at a point about 

 4 feet above high water mark. 



This stratum is situated in one of the lower zones of lowest of the three 

 Miocene formations of the Chesapeake Group in Maryland, which in the reports 

 of the Maryland Geological Survey 1 is designated as the Calvert Formation. 

 The Chesapeake Group was considered by Dr. Wm. H. Dall in 1898 2 as analogous 

 to the European Helvetian. The Helvetian is included by Zittel 3 among the 

 formations of the Middle Miocene. In 1904, however, Dall remarked that the 

 Helvetian and Tortonian of DeLapparent represented "a fauna derived from 

 the south, and of a subtropical character; hence, in no case strictly comparable 

 with a fauna, like that of the American Chesapeake, derived from cool-temperate 

 seas. It is to the fragmentary Miocene of North Germany and Denmark 

 that we should look, if at all, to find the time-analogues of our Chesapeake 

 species." 4 He further remarks: "In a general way, allowing for local peculi- 

 arities, the Miocene fauna of North Germany compares well and agrees closely 

 with that of Maryland." 5 So far as I am aware, no cetaceans comparable with 

 the form under consideration have been described from northern Germany. 



The material consists of the following parts: (1) A nearly complete skull, 



1 Md. Geol. Surv. Report, Miocene, Text, 1904, p. xxix. 



2 18th Ann. Rep. U. S. Geol. Surv., pt. 2, 1898, p. 334, table. 

 » Handb. Palaeont., pt. 1, IV, 1891-93, p. 65. 



* Md. Geol. Surv. Report, Miocene, Text, 1894, p. cxliii. 

 6 Op. cit., p. cliii. 



