560 The American Naturalist. [June, 
nests, and the spiral vertical portions shafts for safety or escape of the 
occupants, or for the admission of air; the spiral being necessary for 
the convenient ascent of the animal. It is well known that species of 
Thomomys make spiral burrows; and remains of this genus are not 
rare in the Plistocene beds of Kansas.—C. 
Mammalia from the ‘“‘ Pits of Gargas.’’—In the grotto of 
Gargas, not far from Montréjean, a number of pits have been found 
about 100 metres from the entrance. These pits are 20 metres in 
depth and have mouths so narrow that it is with difficulty that a man 
ean force himself through the openings. M. Regnault has recently 
explored these pits and found them rich in fossil remains of bears 
( Ursus speleus, the small variety), wolves (Canis lupus), and hyaenas 
(Hyaena crocuta). M. Gaudry notes the unusual circumstance of the 
fine state of preservation of the fossils, particularly of a hyaena and a 
wolf, of which almost complete skeletons were obtained. These finds 
have been made the subject of a joint paper by MM. Gaudry and Boule, 
in which they discuss the affinities of these cave animals, and give 
tabular statements of the genealogy of the bears and of the hyaenas. 
The latter differs from the one published by Schlosser in 1890. 
A series of fine plates illustrates the paper. (Materiaux Pour. 
P Histoire des Temps Quaternaires. Quatrième Fascicle, Paris, 1892.) 
Mr. G. F. Matthew reports a new genus, Protolemus, of Trilobites 
from the St. John group of the lower Cambrian beds. The new genus 
is represented by two species, P. elegans and P. parodozoides. (Bull. 
New Brunswick Nat. Hist. Soc., 1892.) ee 
The Cleveland shale of Ohio has yielded a new Coccostean, which is 
described by Professor Claypole under the specific name Co 
cuyahogae. This species comes from a higher horizon than either C. 
hercynius or C. occidentalis, and is remarkable for its large size. (Am. 
Geol., March, 1893). 
Paleozóic.—Mr., H. E. Sauvage has been studying the fish fauna 
of the Permian of France. He finds that of 24 species, 14 are, for the 
present, peculiar to France. This fauna is, undoubtedly, that of the 
Lower Permian, and is characterized by a predominance of species 
belonging to the genera Amblypterus. (Revue Scientifique, Avril, 
1893.) 
Mesozoic.—According to Chapman, the Phosphatic Chalk of 
Taplow, England, has yielded 5 species and varieties of Ostracoda, p 
previously known, and 98 species and varieties of Foraminifera, . 
which the following are new to science: Nubecularia jonesiana, 40°” 
