-a 
1895.] Anthropology. 593 
are indicated, and in the region of the hind brain four well-marked 
neuromeres exist. External to the 2d, 3d, and 4th neuromeres is an 
extensive auditory plate, already slightly grooved. There are seven- 
teen somites, which, in the middle region of the trunk, possess distinct 
cavities, and externally to these from the 4th to the 17th, are situated 
the beginnings of the Wolffian bodies. At the 7th somite the Wolffian 
duct is first seen, the appearance of which in sections suggests an ecto- 
dermal origin. Double heart origins are present, but there is no 
trace of a vascular area besides a slight mottling in and around the 
area pellucida. A distinct blastopore is present with a neurenteric 
canal, which runs through the head process and opens into the archen- 
teron (yolk-sac cavity). The primitive streak extends behind the blas- 
topore to a distance of 1.5 mm. The embryo more nearly resembles 
that of the Virginia opossum (Didelphys) of 73 hours described by 
Selenka, than any other embryo known to the authors. The Platypus 
embryo is, however, much longer.—Zool. Anzeiger, 1895, p. 31. K. 
ANTHROPOLOGY. 
The Antiquity of Man in North America.—The problem of 
the antiquity of man on this continent has received some interesting 
contributions within the last few years, and it will be interesting to take 
a survey of its present condition. 
The sources of information respecting the first human inhabitants of 
a country are four-fold—two-fold as to materials, and two-fold as to lo- 
calities. The materials may be either his bones or his handiwork ; the 
localities are deposits which are either within caves or outside of caves. 
The bones of primitive man have shown that there was, in Europe, and 
possibly in Asia (Java), a species of the Genus Homo distinct from 
the H. sapiens, which has been called H. neanderthalensis. This being 
possessed all the characters of the skeleton, dentition, ete., which belong 
1 This department is edited by H. C. Mercer, University of Pennsylvania. 
