character. Mr. Allen, who accompanied us, has probably de- 

 -W. Hoffman, M.D. 



GEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY. 



On the Order Amblypoda.— Prof. Cope recently read a paper 

 on the structure of the feet of Bathmodon, showing that they re- 

 sembled in many points those of the Elephants but differed in 

 others. He finds five toes on each foot, which are very short and 

 furnished with small transverse hoofs. The bones of the carpus 

 resemble closely those of Toxodontia. In the hind foot the 

 arrangement is like that of the Elephants except that the navic- 

 ular bone is withdrawn to the outer side so as to bring the cuboid 

 and one cuneiform bone into contact with the astragalus. On the 

 characters thus ascertained he based the definition of a new order 

 of mammals. The Amblypoda which presents two sub-orders, the 

 Pantodonta represented by Bathmodon, and the Dinocerata rep- 

 resented by Uintatherium. 



ANTHROPOLOGY. 



Perforation of the Humerus conjoined with platycnemism. 

 —Associated with that extreme development of platycnemism 

 discovered by the writer, some years ago, in the ancient mounds 

 on the Detroit and llouge Rivers, Michigan, he has found the per- 

 foration of the humerus. Allusion is made to that peculiarity of 

 the arm bone in which is presented a communication of the two 

 fossae at its lower end. It is difficult to arrive at the exact 

 amount of the percentage to which this prevails in these mounds ; 

 though there can be little doubt that at least 50 per cent, of the 

 humeri have this characteristic. This is of interest as being in 

 excess of that from the mounds in other parts of the country, 

 where it is calculated as being only 31 per cent. It is a character- 

 istic which, significantly enough, exists in the ape, pertains to the 

 negro in a large degree, while it is very rarely encountered in any 

 of the white races. ^ F E. S h at 



of the humerus being a peculiarity of phitycueinie man, and states 



