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Art. 11.— Notice of the Discovery of a Cranium of the Zeuglodon, (Basilosaurus.)* 

 By M. TuoMEY, State Geologist of South Carolina ; Corresponding Member of 

 the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 



Almost every day adds something to our knowledge of those remarkable forms 

 which, in the revolutions, of time have passed out of existence. In 1 832, Dr. Harlan 

 described and figured in the American Philosophical Transactions some fossil bones 

 from Alabama, consisting of portions of the upper and lower maxillae of an animal 

 to which he gave the name of Basilosaurus, from an impression that they belonged 

 to a gigantic Saurian. An examination of the teeth, however, satisfied Prof. Owen 

 that these remains pertained to a Cetacean, to which he has given the name Zeuglodon. 



The first description of an entire tooth of this animal, was given by Mr. Buckley, 

 in a concise account of the discovery of a considerable portion of the skeleton, pub- 

 lished in the American Journal of Science in 1843. In 1845, Dr. R. W. Gibbes, of 

 South Carohna, published in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences 

 of Philadelphia, accurate figures of similar teeth with fragments of the low^er maxilla. 

 The teeth being hollow, and in his opinion presenting other important differences, he 

 constituted for them a new genus, Dorudon. 



The Hydrarchos, I believe, has passed away without advancing our knowledge 

 upon this interesting subject, excepting perhaps that Prof. Wyman discovered in the 

 extremity of the ribs some cetacean characters. 



The next important development consisted in the publication, by Prof. Emmons, in 

 the American Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, of beautiful figures of the teeth, the 

 anterior portion of the lower maxilla, part of the ramus having the coronoid process 

 and condyle almost perfect, together with cervical and caudal vertebrae, and a rib. 

 But up to the present time, no notice has appeared of the discovery of any consider- 

 able portion of the cranium proper — for the mutilated head of the so-called Hydrar- 

 chos can scarcely be considered an exception. 



Early in January I was presented by F. S. Holmes, Esq., with a portion of the left 

 upper maxilla, containing one tooth and the alveoli of several others, which he dis- 

 covered in the Eocene beds of Ashley river, about ten miles from Charleston. Soon 

 after. Prof. Lewis R. Gibbes, of the College of Charleston, visited the same locality, 

 and had the good fortune to find the rest of the scull, much fractured, but so care- 

 fully were the fragments collected, that with a little patience we were enabled to 

 restore them to their proper places. It is then altogether to these gentlemen that we 

 owe a knowledge of this valuable relic. 



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Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, February, 1847. 



