942 The American Naturalist. [November, 
tions of certain body-plates in the Dinichthyids. These are the median 
ventral plates of Titanichthys, and a postero-dorso-lateral of Dinich- 
thys. The author further states that “every plate present in the body 
armor of Coccosteus has its representative in Dinichthys, and that the 
conditions of overlap and underlap are the same in both forms. (Amer. 
Journ. Sci., July, 1896.) 
Crenozorc.—Mr. H. W. Fairbanks states that the Lower Creta- 
ceous age is represented in Santa Barbara County, California, by the 
Knoxville beds, containing the characteristic Aucella fossils. This is 
the southern point at which the genus Aucella has been found in Cali- 
fornia. (Bull. Dept. Geol. Univ. Calif., Vol. IT, 1896.) 
The skull of Orycteropus gaudryi (Ant-Bear or Aard-Vark) from 
the Lower Pliocene of Samos, described by C. W. Andrews, indicates 
an animal about one-fifth less than the living species. The close re- 
semblance between the fossil and recent forms is remarkable. Dr. 
Forsyth Major has pointed out that the former distribution of the 
genus indicates its northern origin, and that it spread into Africa along 
with the rest of the Pliocene Mammalia with which it has been found. 
(Proceeds. Zool. Soe. London, 1896.) 
In discussing the geographical distribution of the known Castoroid 
species, Mr. Merriam notes that the American Castorinae seem to 
reach their maximum development at or before the beginning of Plio- 
cene time, while the culmination of the Eurasia group appears to occur 
in the Pliocene. This „apparent earlier culmination of the American 
Castorinae, together with the earlier extinction of certain forms in 
this country, seem to point to an American rather than to the Euro- 
pean origin of the family. (Bull. Dept. Geol. Univ. Calif., 1896.) 
According to Dr. Shufeldt, Harpagornis, the fossil bird recently 
found in New Zealand, represents a more or less aquiline type, that 
might easily have been the common ancestor to a number of genera of 
existing modern eagles, as, for example, Haliaetus, Aquila and Thal- 
assaetus. A natural scheme of classification would place it between the 
genera Aquila and Thalassaetus. (Trans. New Zeal. Inst. [1895], 1896.) 
