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University of California Publications in Geology [Vol. 13 



Before the extensive studies of Forsyth-Major, 140 it was thought 

 that the littoral marine Pliocene strata of Italy were somewhat older 

 than the lacustrine strata of the Arno Valley. The investigations of 

 Forsyth-Major brought forth evidence which showed that this might 

 not be true. 



The left mandibular ramus figured by Gervais 141 certainly belongs 

 to the same genus, and possibly to the same species, as the fossil form 

 from the Orciano in Italy. It shows further that Prist iphoca is not 

 a synonym of Paleophoca, but that the two are, instead, very distinct 

 genera. In the skull figured by Ugolini the second and third incisors, 

 the canine, and the first, second, and third premolars were in situ. 

 The rest of the skull is broken away, preventing an accurate study 

 of the entire molariform series. The left mandibular ramus figured 

 by Gervais possessed a canine, the first, second, third, and fourth 

 premolars, and the alveolus of the first molar, the remainder of the 

 ramus being broken away. This dentition is very similar to that of 

 the existing genus Monachus. Very little if any differentiation in the 

 molariform teeth has taken place in the Monachinae since the Pliocene 

 at least. 



Professor Osborn, 142 in his discussion of the fauna of the Val 

 d'Arno, mentions a seal, Phocanella, which agrees with that found in 

 Belgium by Van Benedeu. 



PLEISTOCENE 



During the digging of a well in South Berwick, Maine, a humerus, 

 a radius, and an ulna of a seal closely related to, if not identical with, 

 Phoca groenlandica, were unearthed by the workmen. They were 

 certain that these bones were those of a human being and refused 

 to work there any longer. The bones were sent to Charles T. Jack- 

 son 143 for identification. In 1856 Leidy 144 described and figured the 

 hind flippers of the same phocid, which were imbedded in a concretion 

 of indurated blue clay. The concretion was found near the mouth 

 of Green's Creek, nine miles east of Ottawa, Canada, in a bed of 



i*o Forsyth-Major, C. J., Chi the mammalian fauna of the Val d'Arno. Quar. 

 Jour. Geol. Soc. London, vol. 41, no. 161, p. 4. 1885. 

 1*1 Gervais, P., op. cit., pi. 82, fig's. 4, 4a. 



1*2 Osborn, H. F., The age of mammals, p. 321. New York, 1910. 



i*s Jackson, C. T., Pinal report on the geology and mineralogy of the state 

 of New Hampshire, p. 94. Concord, 1844. 



i** Leidy, J., Notice of the remains of a species of seal, from the Post-pliocene 

 deposits of the Ottawa Eiver. Proe. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., vol. 8, pp. 90-91, pi. 3. 

 1856. 



