38 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF VERTEBRATE 



PALAEONTOLOGY. 



By Charles R. Eastman. 



Research work during the past year has included a reinvesti- 

 gation of Devonic fishes of the Ohioan and Dakotan provinces, 

 with partial publication of results, and the preparation of materials 

 for a study of the Mississippian Palaeozoic fishes, principally from 

 Kentucky, an area that has been but little exploited. A few 

 interesting types of Tertiary cetaceans have been described by 

 Dr. F. W. True, and by the Assistant. 



Part of the month of April, 1907, was spent in the field for the 

 purpose of studying the stratigraphy and gathering further mate- 

 rial from the Devonian and Lower Carboniferous in central Ken- 

 tucky. Scant incidental notices have been published concerning 

 the vertebrate content of the fossiliferous horizons of this State, 

 although during the early days of the Geological Survey a consid- 

 erable quantity of material was accumulated. Some of the orig- 

 inal material upon which these notices were based, in particular a 

 selected lot of specimens formerly belonging to Messrs. W. T. 

 Knott, W. M. Linney, and Professor J. C. Fales, has been acquired 

 by the Museum, either through purchase or donation. In addition, 

 an extensive series of fossiliferous phosphatic nodules from the 

 base of the Waverly, near Junction City, in Boyle County, was 

 collected by the Assistant in company with Mr. Moritz Fischer, 

 the contents of which afford a new and interesting field for inves- 

 tigation. Not the least interesting feature of the remarkable 

 assemblage here represented is the presence of undoubted arthro- 

 diran and ptyctodont remains. The only similar manifestations 

 in rocks of post-Devonic age are in the Kinderhook of Iowa and 

 Jefferson County, Missouri. Some of the crustacean remains 

 have been submitted to Dr. J. M. Clarke for report, and the fossil 

 wood has been placed in the hands of Dr. E. C. Jeffrey. More 

 recently, our representation from the same region has been in- 



