1876,] Geology and Paleontology. 117 
edges equally so, and that the implement as made was intended for pene- 
tration rather than cutting, but necessarily by the aid of a handle, inas- 
much as the base has a roughly chipped edge, which would prevent its 
being used effectively if simply held in the hand. Certainly as a simple 
cutting implement or hatchet it would not have been pointed. This sup- 
posed use of these specimens, as described, is confirmed by the discovery 
lately of three specimens of such implements in Indian graves. Each o 
these chipped flints had evidently been inserted into long bones (femora) 
ofsome large mammal. The bones themselves had so nearly decayed 
that only minute fragments could be gathered, but the outline was dis- 
tinguishable as the relic lay in the ground. Two of these specimens of 
flint teeth had evidently been wrought de novd from the mineral ; the 
other was as evidently the pointed half of a lance-head, or hoe, the 
base being a single surface, showing that the specimen had there been 
broken directly in two. Somewhat confirmatory also of this view of the 
use of such relies is the fact that of the broken specimens of “ lance- 
heads ’’ found lying on the surface of the ground, the vast majority are 
the bases; the points having been gathered and utilized, I believe, in the 
manner suggested. War-clubs of wood, armed with a metal tooth, are 
how seen among the Indians. Catlin, in his North American Indians, 
vol. ii, plate 150, figures such an one, and frequently refers to them 
throughout that work. Prior to the introduction of metals, war-clubs 
were of course common, but armed with stone instead of iron. The 
Jasper implements above described, I doubt not, were the forerunners 
of the metal teeth of the modern club. — Cuarues C. Assort, M. D. 
OreninG or a RoyaL BURIAL Mounp IN DENMARK. — The Royal 
Society of Northern Antiquaries at Copenhagen has recently published 
a beautifully illustrated folio volume containing a.description of a royal. 
urial mound or barrow, with translations of the Runic inseriptions on 
stones, at Jellinge, of the time of the royal pair, Gorm and Thyra. 
GEOLOGY AND PALHONTOLOGY. 
Tae EARLIEST EDENTATES (Storus). — The éarliest sloths hitherto 
known have occurred in the Miocene Tertiary. Professor Gaudry 
recently announced to the French Academy traces of the existence of 
edentate mammals at the beginning of the Miocene epoch. The remains 
consist of a first phalanx and an ungueal phalanx, which seem to come 
from the same finger. He places this new animal in the genus Ancylo- 
therium, With the specific name of priscus. The fossils have been found 
In the same bed, suggesting that the edentate in question has lived at the 
time of the lower Miocene as well as at the last phase of the Eocene. 
_ A FossiL Srrentan Anmar IN Jamatca. — The former existence, 
m Jamaica of an animal of this group, rather smaller than the manatee 
18 Indicated by the skull and atlas vertebra, described by Professor Owen 
