408 : General Notes. [June, 
tebral bone, Prof. Marsh’s knowledge of the former term must be | ; 
ascribed to some other source. The fact that the Amer. Journ. 
Sci. Arts appeared a good deal later than its usual date of publi- 
cation, may be considered in this connection.—£. D. Cope. 
Fossor1AL RepriLes.—Prof. Cope has recently described some 
reptiles from the Permian formation in which the humeri possess 
many of the characters of those of the mole and other fossorial 
Mammalia inthe great development of the muscular insertions and 
epicondyles, and the presence of a supracondylar foramen. They 
are referred to five species of three genera of Pelycosauria, a tribe 
of the order Rhynchocephata, 
GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS. 
RicHTHOFEN’s CuinA.—The portion of this great work relating 
to the loess, so wonderfully developed in parts of China, was 
noticed, at some length, by Prof. Whitney in the December num- 
ber of this journal. We will’merely run through the table of 
contents, to show the breadth of the researches made by the 
learned author, so well known in this country for his investiga- 
tions in the geology of California. The general features of China 
and Central Asia, the loegs formation in Northern China, the 
structure and formation of the salt steppes of Central Asia are 
discussed at length. This portion is followed by chapters on the 
transition region of Central Asia, on the distribution of desert 
and loess-covered regions in other parts of the earth; the pla- 
teaux of Central Asia, embracing the Tién-shan, Kwen-lun and 
the mountainous regions in Southern Asia. The second part 
relates to the development of our geographical and historical 
knowledge of China. The wood-cuts are in many cases full-page 
illustrations and, with the maps and general elegance of the 
typography and paper, in addition to the text, render the work of 
a high order of interest. -a 
Tue Bic Horn Canon.—Gen. Brisbin has given an interesting 
account of the Powder river country, extending from the sources 
of the Big Horn and Powder rivers over the Big Horn mountains 
and the plains as far as the Missouri river, a country unknown to 
white men until 1866. “It contains,’ says Judge Daly in his 
recent address to the American Geographical Society, “one © 
the greatest natural curiosities of our continent, the Big Horn 
afion, which rivals the famous gorge of the Colorado.” 
Tue Istamus or DARIEN.—A valuable map and notice of 
recent surveys, especially those of Lieut. L. N. B. Wyse in 1876 
1 China. Ergebnisse eigener Reisen, und darauf gegriindeter Studien. VO F 
von RICHTHOFEN. Eister Band. Einleitender Thiel. Mit 29 wood-cuts and II 
maps. Berlin. D. Reimer. 1877. 4to, pp. 758. 
