1 882.] Geology and Palaeontology. 1027 



editor, a photo of a specimen of the polished ornament commonly- 

 called the brooding bird, in which the animal is a turtle, and not 

 a bird. We have seen the beaver taken off in the same way. 

 The turtle-form is exceedingly rare, if it is not the only example. 

 The image was found near a mound in Miami county, Ohio, two 

 miles west of Stillwater river. 



Mr. William Kite, of Germantown, Pa., draws attention to the 

 existence of doughnut-shaped stones in Pennsylvania, similar to 

 those so common from California. Mr. Kite says, " I have in my 

 possession two such specimens, one from Chester county, Pa., 

 and one on the outskirts of Germantown. The latter is the more 

 curious, as it has a saucer-like cavity worked on both sides of 

 the stone." 



The American Antiquarian. — The third number of Vol. IV, 

 of this established quarterly is well above the average in merit. 

 The original papers are as follows : — 



The native races of Colombia. Bv E. G. Barnev. 



The divinity of the hearth. By Rev. O. D. Miller. 



P..hc Inhuman in America. By L. P. Gratacap. 



Early European pipes found in the United States. By E. A. Barber. 



The Prehistoric architecture of America. By Stephen D. Peet. 



The correspondence and notes in this Journal are qnite as 

 valuable as the original communications. 



GEOLOGY AND PALAEONTOLOGY. 



A Fossil Croatian Whale {Mcsocetus agramif. — P. J. Van 

 Beneden, in the " Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences of 

 Belgium," gives an account of the remains of a whalebone whale 

 contained in the museum of Agram, Croatia. These remains are 

 not only of interest from their affil : species, but 



from the light they shed upon the changes undergone by the Eu- 

 ropean seas since the Tertiary epoch. The Black Sea during 

 that period covered Austria, Bavaria, Wurtemburg, and the lower 

 part of Switzerland, and contained true whales, whereas now its 

 cretacean fauna consists of only three dolphins. 



The remains consist of the hinder portion of the cranium, a 

 mandibular condyle, several vertebrae and a part of a rib. The 

 form of the condyle is a mean between that of the existing whale- 

 bone whales and that of the dolphin-, showing habits intermedi- 

 ate in some respects between these two groups. When the trans- 

 verse section of the cranium of Mesocetus is compared with that 

 of BaUawptera rostrata, .1 striking difference is observable in form 

 and in the relative development of the bones composing them. 

 The former is spread out laterally at the expense of the height ; 

 the sphenoid is at least twice as broad as high, and the palatine 

 plate forms a horizontal cavity under the sphenoid; whereas in 

 ! Une Fossile Balenie de Croatie, appartenant au genre Mesoceto, par P. J. Van 



