TITLES AND ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS 211 



which came from the (?) Ashley River beds of South Carolina and constitutes 

 a part of the famous Shepard Collection, is now mounted in the Museum at 

 Amherst. 



This paper was illustrated by drawings and photographs and was discussed 

 as follows by Messrs. Matthew, Brown, and Merriam: This skeleton may be 

 of the species recently described by Doctor Hay as Mammut progenium, from 

 a lower jaw out of the Aftonian beds of Iowa. The same species is recorded 

 by Doctor Sellards in late Tertiary beds of Florida. Teeth and incomplete 

 jaws from the phosphate beds of South Carolina may also belong to it. It is 

 clearly a species distinct from the American mastodon. 



HORNED ARTIODACTYL FROM THE TERTIARY OF NEBRASKA 

 BY R. S. LULL 



(Abstract) 



The expedition of 1914 from Yale University, while hunting over Marsh's 

 old fields along the Niobrara River, found a very unusual horned animal, 

 probably related to the giraffe, and certainly never known in America before. 

 Several skulls were exhibited with the horn cores arising immediately back 

 of the orbits. One specimen, probably a female, showed the merest beginning 

 of a rudimentary horn, "a rectigradation." Since discovering the importance 

 of this new material it is planned to send another party to the place to search 

 for other specimens. 



Doctor Merriam expressed great interest in anything like a horned artio- 

 dactyl of this type because of the abundance of antelopine forms in the Pacific 

 Coast region. Doctor Sinclair felt the need of caution in any attempt to 

 classify the Artiodactyla on the character of the horn cores. Doctor Matthew 

 believed that its nearest relative was probably the Miocene genus Blastomeryx. 

 of which it might be a descendant. 



FELIDM OF RANGHO LA BREA 

 BY J. C. MERRIAM 



(Abstract) 



This was an interesting talk, with lantern slides, about the varieties of fossil 

 cats from the asphalt deposits of California. The nature of the large saber- 

 like canine teeth — in the manner of their succession, deciduous to permanent ; 

 their progressive protrusion, the great variation in the cusps of the molars 

 and premolars, and the brachy- and dolichocephaly — was dwelt on. The differ- 

 ences in these respects would warrant separate species, according to our usual 

 way of thinking; but, because in the hundreds of skulls at hand he finds a 

 most perfect gradation. Doctor Merriam hesitates to separate the groups except 

 in the most extreme cases. 



Professor Osborn emphasized the importance to paleontology that this won- 

 derful Rancho la Brea material should have fallen into the capable hands of 

 Doctor Merriam. 



