256 



THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. XLVII 



ging the question. If they do not indicate arachnid relation- 

 ships what do they indicate? 



Bertram G. Smith 21 gives a very interesting discussion of 

 "Phytogeny" (in the Amphibia) in his valuable memoir on 

 "Embryology of Cryptobranchus." The keynote to his discus- 

 sion is contained in the following sentence : 



In the present state of our knowledge it is impossible to reach an un- 

 qualified decision of the question under consideration. . . . Whatever 

 light may be shed by future discoveries on the question of the derivation 

 of the amphibia from the crossopterygia or the dipnoi it is clear that 

 the point of origin is not far from either stock; in other words, that the 

 three lines of descent have separated from a common stem at no very 

 great intervals. 



The discussion is illustrated by a figure of the pectoral limb 

 of the crossopterygian Sauripteras taylori Hall, based on a speci- 

 men in the American Museum. 



Louise Kellogg 22 has a very interesting paper on the "Pleisto- 

 cene Rodents of California." The material described is from the 

 cave deposits and the asphalt beds of California. The discussion 

 is intended especially as an elucidation of the possible changes in 

 climatic conditions during the Pleistocene as indicated by the 

 rodent fauna. The species are listed according to the life zones 

 which they indicate; the Upper Sonoran, Transition and Boreal 

 all being indicated by several species ; there being but slight indi- 

 cation of change since the time of deposition of the deposits. 

 Two new subspecies are described. 



Roy L. Moodie. 



University of Kansas 



"Journal of Morphology, Vol. 23, No. 3, p. 540 ff. 



■ Bull, of Dept. Geol. Univ. Calif., Vol. 7, No. 8, pp. 151-168. 



