NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 
7 
or in horizontal bands around the body, containing the name and quality of the 
deceased, with the customary presentation or offerings for his soul to Osiris, 
a chapter from the ritual or some other funeral formula. In the hands of these 
figures are a hoe and a bag of seeds. Their arms are crossed in imitation of 
certain forms of Osiris, whose name and form the dead assumed, and the form 
of their beard indicates the return of the human soul, which once animated their 
body, to the deity from whom it emanated." — Wilkinson. 
February 2d, 
Vice President Bridges in the Chair. 
Forty-four members present. 
Dr. Leidy made some further general remarks upon the fossil mammalia ob- 
tained by Dr. Hayden from the Niobrara river (L'eau-qui-court), duringthe re- 
cent expedition of Lieut. G. K. Warren to explore the Black Hills of Nebraska. 
Dr. Hayden suspects the formation in which he discovered the fossils to be of 
pliocene age. The specimens belong to some twenty or more species of ani- 
mals, all of which are distinct from those found in the miocene deposit of the 
Mauvaises Terres ; and are also distinct from those of a subsequent age. The 
forms are, moreover, of more recent character than those of the Mauvaises Terres 
deposit. An interesting and remarkable fact, in connection with these remains, 
is that they indicate a fauna more nearly like the recent fauna of the old world, 
than of this country. Thus, among the remains, are those of a species of Rhino- 
ceros, almost the same size, and having the same dental formula as the ^. indicus 
There are remains of several species of Horse, and of several new genera of 
ruminants ; among which are those of a genus allied to the Musks, and also those 
of a genus closely allied to the Camel. There are, further, remains of a Porcu- 
pine, resembling the genus Hystrix, and those of a small species of Beaver. The 
collection likewise contains remains of three species of Wolf, the lower jaw of 
the feline genus Pseudalurus^ fragments of several other carnivorous genera, and 
portions of the skeleton of the Mastodon and Elephant, 
Dr. LeConte said that while he was recently in Honduras, he had examined 
the Mastodon bed at the village of Tambla, in one of the passes leading from the 
plain of Comayagua to the Pacific. He was satisfied of the identity of the re- 
mains with ilf. giganteus. He had found there a molar of Bos and two or three 
teeth of Equus. 
On motion of Dr. Leidy, by special resolution, the thanks of the 
Academy were presented to Mrs. R. Pierpont, for the donation of a valu- 
able collection of shells. 
February ^th. 
Dr. Isaac Hays in the Chair. 
Thirty-three members present. 
Dr. Leidy made some further general remarks upon the pliocene fossils from Ne- 
braska ; he exhibited many bones, among them the foot of a horse. He ob- 
served, that among all the mammalian remains brought by Dr. Hayden from the 
Niobrara river, none were more remarkable than those which he now exhibited. 
They belong to an equine animal which has the temporary teeth of Anchitherium, 
and the permanent teeth of Equus. In both these genera, the permanent and de- 
ciduous teeth are alike, but the new genus in early life is an Anchitherium, and 
later in life a true Horse. 
He also exhibited the jaws, with the teeth, of a new genus allied to Oreodon, 
partaking, like this, of suiline and ruminant characters. The specimens were 
discovered by Dr. Hayden on the Niobrara, opposite Fort Laramie, and indicate 
a larger animal than any of the species of Oreodon described by him. 
1858.] 
