EEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 19^5 79 



bh account of the fine preservation of the markings, but also for 

 the number of new forms represented. As a whole, the collection 

 constitutes the largest and most comprehensive series of Permian 

 footprints known in North America. It has been admirably supple- 

 mented by a smaller collection made by Dr. John C. Merriam from 

 the same locality and presented by the Carnegie Institution of 

 Washington. Mention should also be made of two very large 

 dinosaurian tracks from the Mesa Verde formation at Clear Creek, 

 Utah, transferred by the United States Geological Survey. Their 

 large size (30 by 31 inches) and the fact of their being the first 

 dinosaurian imprints to be received from the Rocky Mountain region 

 makes them of decided value. 



An important collection of Pleistocene mammals from near Mel- 

 bourne, Fla., donated by C. P. Singleton, contains the greater part 

 of a skull, lower jaws, and partial skeleton of the Florida mastodon, 

 and several good jaws and teeth of smaller mammals. This material 

 was secured by Dr. J. W. Gidle}^ while making investigations in 

 Florida under the auspices of the Bureau of Ethnology. A second, 

 though small collection of Pleistocene mammals from Erupcion mine. 

 Chihuahua, Mex., was donated by Mrs. Bruce D. Smith, of El Paso, 

 Tex. 



Three large, beautifully preserved fossil turtles from the Upper 

 Cretaceous of New Mexico were acquired from Ward's Natural 

 Science Establishment by exchange. These represent the genera 

 Baena, Basilemys, and Adocus. At least one new species is present 

 and the Basilemys is the first adequate representative of that genus 

 secured for the national collections. 



Other exchanges added a number of casts to the collection. From 

 the South African Museum, at Cape Town, were received casts of 

 the types of the batrachian, Batrachosuchus hrowni Broom, and of 

 the reptiles Dicytnodon kolbei Broom and Struthiocephelus whaitsi 

 Haughton; from the American Museum of Natural History, casts 

 of skulls of Andrewsarchos and Proamphycyon^ and of three dino- 

 saur eggs. The last, on account of the publicity given the originals, 

 are especially interesting exhibits. 



The collection of fossil cetaceans has been materially enriched by 

 the acquisition of several important specimens, the most noteworthy 

 of these being two skulls of sperm whales, one nearly complete, the 

 other smaller and disarticulated, presented by Charles Morrice, 

 Bakersfield, Calif., to whom the Museum is further indebted for 

 small lots of less important fossils sent in from time to time during 

 the past year. The most perfect skull has been selected by Reming- 

 ton Kellogg as the type of a new species. Mention should also be 

 made of the deposit by Earl Sloan, Charleston, S. C, of the type 



