Vol. 6] 



Merriam: Notes on Desmostylus. 



405 



Arnold and Robert Anderson, a strip of the Vaqneros formation, 

 corresponding approximately to the Temblor of P. M. Anderson, 

 crosses the higher side of this section. A tooth derived from 

 this zone might be washed to any part of the section. 



Farther to the south, on the west side of the San Joaquin 

 Valley, F. M. Anderson reports Desmostylus at the Temblor 

 horizon in the region of the Devil's Den. On the east side of 

 the valley in the Kern region Mr. Anderson finds it again in 

 beds corresponding to his Temblor formation of the west side of 

 the valley. 



Important discoveries of Desmostylus remains were recently 

 made in the Vaqneros formation north of Coalinga by Robert 

 Anderson, and by Robert Anderson and R. W. Pack of the U. S. 

 Geological Survey. With the permission of the Director of the 

 Survey, through the courtesy of Mr. Anderson and Mr. Pack, 

 the writer had the opportunity of examining this material. The 

 most interesting specimens comprise a fine molar tooth and a 

 portion of a tusk. The cheek-tooth (figs, la and 16) corresponds 

 almost exactly in form and size to the second upper cheek-tooth 

 of a skull described by Yoshiwara and Iwasaki from Japan. 



Other occurrences of Desmostylus in southern California 

 include a number of fragments of teeth obtained by Mr. W. L. 

 Still of La Panza, San Luis Obispo County, and brought to the 

 writer's attention by Professor A. C. Lawson. These specimens 

 are considered by Professor Lawson as occurring in association 

 with shales and sandstones near the Vaqneros formation. An- 

 other collection of Desmostylus teeth was obtained by Mr. C. H. 

 McCharles from a belt of shale and sandstone about six miles 

 northeast of Santa Ana, Orange County (see fig. 3). These 

 beds are considered by those who have examined them as prob- 

 ably near the horizon of the Vaqueros. 



The occurrence of the type specimen being indicated only 

 as in Contra Costa County, it is not possible to determine cer- 

 tainly the horizon at which it was found. There is, however, 

 in the Tertiary of Contra Costa County a zone corresponding 

 to that in which Desmostylus is known to occur in the region 

 farther south, and the nature of the matrix suggests that this 

 specimen came from one of the horizons of the Miocene. 



