132 General Notes. | { February, 
THE NECKS OF THE SAUROPTERYGIA.—It is known that the 
length of the neck in the Plesiosauroid reptiles of North Amer- 
ica diminished in length as the group approached the period of 
extinction. Thus the longest necks in the order, those of the 
species of E/asmosaurus, are seen in the Niobrara (No. 3) division 
of the cretaceous. Inthe Pierre formation (No. 4), we find the 
shorter-necked E/asmosauri, and the Cimoliasaurt with still shorter 
necks. In the latest cretaceous (Fox Hills or No. 5), the neck is 
reduced to its most abbreviated proportions, in the genus Uro- 
nautes. This shortening of the neck is thus associated with the 
shallowing of the water, which, as we know, gradually succeeded 
the deep-sea period of the Niobrara. In Europe the history of 
the order during the Jurassic period was the same. During the 
deep-sea epoch of the Lias we have the typical asec omit repre- 
sented by the long-necked P. dolichodirus ; the shallower Oxford 
and Kimmeridge seas were the range of the ae mie Mu- 
renosaurus; while Plosaurus, with the shortest neck, was co- 
temporary with these, and remained as late as the Portland. It 
is true, that long-necked forms continued as late as the Kimmer- 
idge in England (Colymibosaurus). It has yet to be ascertained 
whether the European cretaceous Sauropterygia present the suc- — — 
cession seen in those of North America.—F. D. Cope. ; 
THE Scates oF Liopon.—Professor Snow, of Lawrence, Kan- 
sas, has recently observed the scales of the abdominal surface of 
Liodon dyspelor. He states them to be smaller than those of the 
rattlesnake. Prof. Snow has also obtained a complete fore-limb 
of this species, and gives a figure of it inthe Kansas City Review 
of Science and Industry. a 
Tue FOSSIL INSECTS OF THE GREEN RIVER SHALES.— 
Scudder gives a series of descriptions of the insects s obida -o 
from the shales near Green River City, Wyoming, in the 4th vol- _ 
‘ume of the Bulletin of the Hayden Survey. They represent the 
orders as follows: Hymenoptera, 4 sp.; Diptera, 14; Coleoptera, 37; 
Hemiptera, 12; Orthopt era, 2: Neuroptera, 2; total, 71. Theo 
there are a few species of Myriapoda and Arachnida. Two new — 
“generic yos of Diptera and one of Hemiptera are described. 
GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.’ 
Tue Swepisu Arctic Expepition.—In the year 1556 Burrough 
discovered the strait leading into the Kara Sea, between Novaya 
Zemlya and the island of Waigatz; and in 1580 Pett sailed through 
the channel which separates Waigatz from the mainland, into the 
sea, where his further progress was barred by the ice. In 1595 
the famous Dutch explorer, Willem Barentz, also reached the en- 
trance to the sea. During the last century the Russians made _ 
several attempts to cross the sea, and in 1738 eur aie reached 
1 Edited by EL11s H. YARNALL, Philadelphia. 
