290 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXI. No. 530. 



to the skull, as seen in iIk- primitive Am- 

 phychelydia, and persistinu' in the Che- 

 loniidiv; iu other words, the production of 

 an open temporal roof is secondary, in the 

 more primitive families it is less reduced, 

 in the loAvest families it is still closed. 

 From this original condition reduction has 

 taken place in most forms from behind ; in 

 others, as some pleurodires, from below. 

 There is thus no true supratemporal fossa. 

 The parieto-squamosal arch in some pleuro- 

 dires is proof of the presence originally of 

 a solid roof. The turtles have been de- 

 rived from the Cotylosauria, possibly 

 through the Chelydosauria. With the 

 Cotylosauria the turtles agree in possessing 

 eight cervical and ten dorsal vertebrae. He 

 pictured the primitive turtle as having a 

 short, broad head, with overroofed tem- 

 poral region and a short supraoccipital ; a 

 short neck consisting of eight vertebrce, 

 with short neural spines, long transverse 

 processes and biccelous centra ; a distinct 

 proscapular process representing a procora- 

 coid; caudal vertebras with chevrons; a 

 dermal armature consisting of plates of 

 bone overlying the ribs and neural arches, 

 and above this a mosaic of small bones em- 

 bedded in the skin ; a plastron consisting of 

 the clavicles and interclaviele and the lat- 

 eral elements of a parasternum, outside of 

 which was a dermal armor of small plates. 

 He maintained further that the turtles 

 and the plesiosaurs are so different that 

 they should be placed in different sul)- 

 cl asses. 



Dr. F. B. Loomis road a paper on 'The 

 Amherst College Expedition to the 

 Wasatch and Wind River Basins in 1904.' 

 A rich collection of Wasatch forms will 

 supplement several of the less known 

 species. One Eokipjyus in which the pnra- 

 conid is bifid, and a tiny Anai)lomorplnis, 

 only two thirds the size of A. homuncvlua, 

 are among the species. The beds are 2,180 

 feet thick. Tn the Wind Kiver basin a new 



and rich locality was found, six miles above 

 the mouth of Bridger Creek. There were col- 

 lected at least three species of Hyopsodus, 

 four of Notharctus, one of Anaptomorphus, 

 three of Paramys, one of Oxyana, one of 

 Esthonyx and two of Coryphodon. The 

 latter is represented by teeth and a neai-ly 

 complete skeleton. 



Mr. 0. A. Petersen sent a paper entitled 

 'Suggestions Regarding the Probable 

 Origin of Dcemonelix.' It has been re- 

 garded as a plant, but the author concludes 

 that it represents the burrow of the extinct 

 rodent Sleneofiber. In his explorations 

 he found, in the materials filling the bur- 

 rows, portions of skeletons of the rodent 

 mentioned. 



Mr. Earl Douglass presented a paper on 

 'A New ]\Ionotreme-like ]\Iammal from the 

 Lower White River Beds. ' The skull was 

 described and drawings of it shown. While 

 presenting numerous resemblances to the 

 monotremes the author expresses some 

 doubts on the relationships. 



Professor AV. B. Scott, referring to re- 

 cent work of Roth on the South American 

 Ungulates, held that the ordinal term 

 Notoungulata suggested by Roth should 

 include three grand divisions and sub- 

 divisions as follows: 



I. Toxodontia. 

 Toxodontia. 

 Honialodontotlieria. 

 Typotlieria. 

 U. Astrapotheria. 

 III. Litopteriia. 



Among the common characters are the 

 following : 



1. The double ankle joint. 



2. The pillar on the inner side of the 

 posterior crescent in the lower molars, the 

 homologies of which are at present obscure. 



Division I., including the Toxodontia, 

 Typotheria and Homalodontotheria is es- 

 pecially distinguished by (1) swollen audi- 

 tory region, (2) zygomatic arch ending on 



