Denton. 186 [October 6, 



Although this shale is not exposed in the vicinity of the Brea 

 Ranch, it is exposed in various localities at but a short distance, and 

 doubtless underlies the asphaltum deposit, for hundreds of " tar 

 springs " exist in the vicinity, from which the material is still flowing 

 over the surrounding locality, the springs being in some cases ele- 

 vated, by its deposition around them, several feet above the sur- 

 rounding level. 



Major Hancock presented me with what I found to be a ca- 

 nine tooth of a Machairodus, a great sabre-toothed feline. It was 

 found at the depth of fifteen feet in the asphaltum. The tooth is 

 nine and a half inches in length, measured along the curve, and the 

 breadth of the crown at the base is an inch and three-quarters, being 

 larger than any tooth of the European Machairodus, whose measure- 

 ment I have been able to find. The crown of the tooth is broken, 

 and its entire length could not have been less, I think, than eleven 

 inches. The tooth from the Val d'Arno, in Italy, referred to by 

 Falconer in his Palaeontological memoirs, measures eight and one- 

 half inches in length, and the breadth of the crown at the base is one 

 and one-half inches, while the tooth found by McEnery in Kent's 

 Hole, England, is six inches in length, and one and one-fifth inches 

 in breadth. The Californian tooth is closely serrulated on both the 

 concave and the convex sides. It seems to have been exposed to the 

 action of the elements for a long time, and contains a number of 

 fractures, some of which have been united by the asphaltum in which 

 it was imbedded. 



I obtained a number of teeth of the fossil horse, and bones of the 

 deer, a large bovine animal, the otter, seal, albatross, and other ani- 

 mals. I found near the pit a portion of the right upper jaw of the 

 fossil horse, containing four molar teeth, or three premolars and one 

 true molar. The first premolar is smaller in proportion to the size of 

 the other teeth than those of the recent horse, judging by several 

 with which I have compared it, and smaller than those of the fossil 

 horse of India. It is but one inch in length, and three-quarters of 

 an inch in breadth; but the other three teeth are larger than the 

 average of the recent horse. The Machairodus tooth, with several 

 from the fossil horse, were exhibited. 



Prof. N". S. Shaler presented for publication in the " Me- 

 moirs," a paper on the Geology of Martha's Vineyard. 



