PETERSON : DESCRIPTION OF NEW RODENTS 185 
SUGGESTIONS REGARDING THE PROBABLE ORIGIN OF 
DAMONELIX. 
In 1891, Professor Erwin H. Barbour of the University of Nebraska discovered 
some peculiar fossils, called by him Daemonelix.' After extensive study, he arrived 
at the conclusion that these strange forms were the remains of gigantic plants. 
Professor Cope’ and Dr. Theodor Fuchs* suggested that the “explanation of these 
objects seems to be that they are the casts of the burrows of some large rodent.” 
Mr. Joseph T. James,* in a paper read before the Biological Society of Washington, 
is inclined to associate Demonelix with certain small spiral concretions found in late 
Tertiary deposits in Switzerland, called ‘“Screw-stones” by Oswald Heer.’ These 
and Demonelix, James regards as belonging to the same order as Spirophyton (or 
Taonurus),’ and Spiraxis’ from the Chemung rocks of New York. He seems to 
hold the opinion that Heer was wrong in interpreting these screw-stones as casts of 
cai" Ss 
Fic. 5, Field sketch of a weathered rhizome containing the type-specimen of Steneofiber barbourt. No. 1210. 
spiral tubes made by burrowing shells, The fact, however, that a specimen of a 
burrowing shell (Lutraria senna) was found in one of these spirals, carries more con- 
viction with regard to the origin of them than mere speculation could do. 
The party sent by the Carnegie Museum to northwestern Nebraska, into the De- 
monelix region, in the summer of 1904, was fortunate in discovering rodent remains 
inside of these “cork-screws” (see note in Science, September 9, 1904, p. 344). Re- 
' Notice of new gigantic fossils. Science, V., 19, pp. 99-100, and ‘‘ Notes on a New Order of Gigantic Fossils,’’ 
University Studies, No. 4, July, 1892, pp. 301-335, pl. 6. 
2The American Naturalist, June, 1893, pp. 559-560. 
3‘ Jeber die Natur von Demonelix Barbour,’’ Ann. k. k, Naturhist. Hofmus., Wien., 1893, pp. 91-94. 
4 The American Geologist, Vol. 15, No. 6, June, 1895, pp. 337-342. 
5 ‘< Tie Urwelt der Schweiz,’’ 1865, p. 438. 
616th Ann. Rep. Reg. Univ. New York, Albany, 1863, pp. 76-83. 
TAnn. N, Y. Ac. Set., 3, 1885, pp. 217-220. 
