known hitherto, have been determined by means of successive cross-sections. In his important paper on "Precambrian Algonkian Algal Flora" (Smithson. Misc. Coll., lxiv, no. 2), Dr. Walcott describes genera and species of calcareous algae and discusses their importance as rock builders. He also considers the question of the probable continental (lake) origin of many limestones, particularly those of the Algonkian, and the extent to which algae enter into their composition. In another paper by the same author, on Dikelocephalus and related genera, a number of these Cambrian trilobites, mainly from the Mississippi Valley, are described, and faunal lists are given for the pre-Ordovician rocks of this region. August F. Foerste continues his studies of the early fossiliferous rocks of Kentucky, the results of which are contained in two papers, one of which is published by the Cincinnati Society of Natural History, and the other, on A gelacrinidae, by Denison University (Bull. Sci. Lab., no. 16). Among the papers of the year dealing with the Mesozoic are to be noted one by James Perrin Smith, entitled "The Middle Triassic Marine Fauna of North America" (U. S. Geol. Surv., Prof. Paper 83), which treats extensively of cephalopods. L. W. Stephenson contributes an important article on "Cretaceous Deposits of the Eastern Gulf Region" in the same series of government publications. Two papers on the Mesozoic flora have been contributed by E. W. Berry, one on Jurassic plant life of Alaska, the other on the Cretaceous and Eocene flora of South Carolina and Georgia. A memoir by W. J. Holland and O. A. Peterson on the Chalicotheroidea, published by the Carnegie Museum, gives a full account of the osteology of Moropus, a gigantic "clawed ungulate," one of the most remarkable of extinct mammals. Until a few years ago this animal was known only from a few fragments, but the discovery of finely preserved remains including a nearly complete skeleton has enabled the authors to describe it fully and compare it with its Old-World relatives, and to reconstruct the skeleton so as to restore the animal as in life. C. W. Andrews describes an interesting little collection from the Miocene of Central Africa, the first direct light we have had on the Tertiary fauna of Ethiopia proper. It indicates an admixture of earlier and later invaders from the north, with some remenants probably of autochthonic fauna. Researches by W. D. Matthew upon the earliest Tertiary faunas of North America are clearing up many problems concerning the origin and early history of the mammals. The highly varied extinct mammalian faunae of Patagonia, which have been described in a long series of memoirs by Owen, Ameghino, Scott, Gaudry, Sinclair and others, are also the subject of Prof. F. B. Loomis's recent work on the Deseado Formation (1914). After an interesting discussion of the habits of the strange hoofed mammals, he describes many new forms. He concludes that Pyrotherium, a large mammal of disputed affinities, is after all related to the Proboscidea, and he is inclined to derive the whole Patagonian ungulate fauna from supposed African stock which had much in common with byracoids. Vertebrates.-A welcome and valuable addition to the literature of extinct mammalia is W. B. Scott's comprehensive treatise History of the The evolution of the titanotheres Mammals of the Western Hemisphere (extinct hoofed mammals of the North (Macmillan Co.). It is well illustrat- American Oligocene) has been sumed and written in an engaging semi-marized by Prof. H. F. Osborn (Bull. popular style. Embracing as it does a large part of the author's own extensive researches upon North and South American fossil mammals, no other guarantee is needed for its high authority. Another useful and well illustrated text-book of extant mammals is O. Abel's Die vorzeitlichen Säugetiere (Jena, 1914). Geol. Soc., 1914), who distinguishes in these and other races two kinds of evolutionary changes called respectively (1) rectigradations, or qualitatively new characters, and (2) allometrons, or changes of proportion. Reptilia. A companion work to Scott's text-book, mentioned above, is S. W. Williston's fine volume on Wa ter Reptiles, Living and Extinct. It contains an excellent summary of the recent progress that has been made in discovery and researches among the ancient and primitive reptiles of the Permian, especially in Texas and New Mexico. Almost equally important additions to the wonderful Karroo fauna of South Africa have been made by Broom and Watson. As a result of these recent discoveries we are gradually feeling our way towards a real understanding of the origin and early history of the various kinds of reptiles, of mammals, and of birds. The reptiles and amphibians of the Upper Carboniferous and Permian periods of Texas, New Mexico and South Africa constitute highly diversified extensive faunas, which are being actively studied by Williston, Case, Broom, von Huene, Watson and others. The collective researches of these investigators are gradually revealing the evolutionary interrelationships of mammals and birds with reptiles, of reptiles with amphibians, and to a certain extent of amphibians with fishes. In some of the earliest amphibians of the English Coal Measures (Loxomma, Pteroplax), the architecture of the skull is of a remarkably primitive type, on the one hand retaining many structural characteristics of Rhizodont fishes, and on the other hand foreshadowing typical amphibia and the more primitive reptiles. In certain of the latter (e. g. Seymouria) the skull is in many respects like that of the contemporary amphibia. Others of these ancient vertebrates foreshadow the lizards, rhynchocephalians and dinosaurs, and still others tend to connect the specialized Pelycosaurs and Cotylosaurs with more primitive types. The mammal-like group (Anomodontia, Cynodontia, etc.) of South Africa and Russia, is steadily yielding evidence for the view that the mammals themselves have sprung from some of its members, which probably had a wide distribution in Permian times. Explorations in the Cretaceous formations of Central Alberta, by the museums of Ottawa and New York, continue to reveal new and remarkable dinosaurs. The variety and extraordinary character of these gigantic reptiles is surprising and the spe cimens are marvelously complete and perfectly preserved. The Carnegie Museum at Pittsburgh has been actively engaged during the year in the further development of the great deposit of fossil reptiles discovered some years ago by Earl Douglass in Uinta County, Utah. In the process of excavation there have been discovered the remains of a number of sauropod dinosaurs, remarkably well preserved, and a skeleton of Allosaurus, or of a carnivorous dinosaur closely allied to that genus. One of these skeletons, recovered in previous years at the same locality, representing probably the most perfect specimen of a sauropod dinosaur yet recovered, is in process of being mounted for exhibition. A new rhynchocephalian from the Jura of Solennofen has likewise been described in the Annals by Norman M. Grier. The same institution has also published three memoirs and one shorter article, by C. R. Eastman, on the fossil fishes contained in its collection. The Berlin Museum has issued a report upon the magnificent collection of Jurassic dinosaurs obtained at Tendagurn in German East Africa. The largest of these, represented by a nearly complete skeleton, compares in size with a huge dinosaur found some years ago in Colorado, and is referred to the same genus, Brachiosaurus. The most remarkable feature is the great length of the fore-limbs and neck, somewhat as in the giraffe. Although hardly as long as the well known Diplodocus and Brontosaurus, it surpasses these animals in bulk and was undoubtedly the largest of all known quadrupeds. Other partial or complete skeletons of smaller dinosaurs in considerable variety are reported, and preliminary descriptions given of one or two. Triassic dinosaurs bid fair to become much better known by the discovery of numerous well-preserved skeletons found at Halberstadt, and from near Stuttgart, in Germany. The new finds are peculiarly welcome because these older dinosaurs have been known hitherto from very scanty and fragmentary materials. In North America especially the record is defective, although Jurassic formations are widespread, both in the East and West. XXVI. ANTHROPOLOGY, ETHNOLOGY, SOCIOLOGY AND ECONOMICS ANTHROPOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY GEORGE GRANT MACCURDY Fossil Man in England.—In the The third layer is easily distinguished last issue of the YEAR BOOK (p. 691) because of its dark ferruginous apconsiderable space was devoted to the pearance. All the fossils (the deer epoch-making discovery of the man excepted) were either discovered in of Piltdown in Sussex, England, or have been traced to the third named by Dr. Woodward Eoanthropus dawsoni. Since the publication of the last report, additional data have been gathered, in part through laboratory studies on the relics previously found and in part through the finding of additional specimens. The nasal bones have been found and are said to "resemble those of existing Melanesian and African races, rather than those of the Eurasian type." layer. So-called eoliths, at least one worked flint, and Eoanthropus were likewise found at this level. Judged from its fossil content the third stratum would be classed as Pliocene were it not for the presence of Eoanthropus and the beaver. In view of the fact that the remains of these, although softer, are not so rolled and worn as are the other fossil remains, the third bed, although composed in the main of Pliocene drift, was probably reconstructed in early Pleistocene time. Those who might have objected to the use of the name Eoanthropus for the Piltdown skull can no longer deny its appropriateness when applied to the lower jaw, especially since the finding of the canine tooth. While the probabilities are all in favor of the three parts belonging to one and the same individual, the case for Eoanthropus does not have to depend on producing positive proof to that effect. The only flint implement of Chellean type came from the layer above (no. 2), and is of later date than the human remains. The right canine tooth found in 1913 is larger than any human canine hitherto encountered. It not only interlocked with the opposing canine, but rose above the level of the other teeth and was separated from the lower premolar by a diastema. On the other hand there is no facet due to wear against the outer upper incisor, such as often occurs in the apes. If a comparative anatomist were fitting out Eoanthropus with a set of canines, he could ask for nothing more suitable than the tooth in question. It conforms to a law in mammalian paleontology that "the permanent teeth of an ancestral race agree more closely in pattern with the milk-teeth than with the permanent teeth of its modified descend-ing of the Gesellschaft naturforants." schender Freunde in Berlin on March The various elements that make up 17, Dr. Hans 'Reck made a prelimithe gravel bed at Piltdown are bet-nary report on a discovery of a fossil ter known to-day than they were a human skeleton in the northern part year ago. At the top is a deposit of German East Africa. The remains of surface soil. The second bed con- were found in Oldoway gorge on the sists of undisturbed gravel. A rude eastern margin of the Serengeti paleolith of the Chellean type was steppe. The Oldoway gorge lays bare found in the middle of this layer. a series of tufaceous layers that had Fossil Man in Africa.-At a meet been deposited in a fresh-water lake. the skeleton itself. Dr. Reck is, howFive deposits can be distinguished ever, already convinced that it antestratigraphically as well as paleontologically. In the lowest deposit fossil remains are rare, the chief specimen being a part of a rhinoceros skeleton. The second deposit is rich in fossil mammalian remains, including the human skeleton. Remains of two types of fossil elephant, both different from the living Elephas africanus, were especially abundant; the skull of a hippopotamus was also found in deposit number two. Bones of the antelope appear for the first time in the third deposit, which also contains bones of the elephant. Elephant remains are dominant in the fourth deposit; fish bones are also abundant. The fifth and latest of the deposits is the richest of all in fossils. It is characterized by an antelope and gazelle fauna similar to that now living on the Serengeti steppe. In this deposit Reck found no elephant remains. The change in fauna represented by the series corresponds to a change in climate. The climate of the upper horizon was similar to that of to-day; while the elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, crocodile, and fish of the lower horizons bespeak a damp woodland climate that was probably synchronous with the Würm glacial epoch in Europe. As has been said, the human skeleton came from the next to the lowest horizon (no. 2). It is not only in a good state of preservation, but is likewise practically complete. The skeleton was found some three or four metres below the rim of the Oldoway gorge, which here is about 50 metres deep. The skeleton bore the same relation to the stratified bed as did the other mammalian remains and was dug out of the hard clay tuff with hammer and chisel just as these were. In other words the conditions of the find were such as to exclude the possibility of an interment. The human bones are therefore as old as the deposit (no. 2). An attempt to determine the age of the human skeleton with any degree of accuracy must of course wait upon a further study of the geologic and paleontologic data as well as on a more thorough-going somatologic study of dates the so-called alluvial or recent period. The thickness of the deposits indicates a considerable lapse of time, especially when one recalls that at least two of the superposed deposits were laid down before the faulting occurred, and with it the drying up of the lake. The change in fauna from rhinocerous, hippopotamus, and two types of elephant both different from the living African elephant, to a gazelle and antelope fauna is likewise proof of considerable antiquity. Judging from the photograph of the skeleton still in situ, the man of Oldoway gorge did not belong to the Neandertal, but rather to the Aurignacian, type of man. In the absence, however, of industrial remains and even photographs in detail, any pronouncement as to racial affinities with known European Quaternary human remains would be merely a guess. In a letter just received from Africa, Dr. Reck says the Oldoway man is now recognized as belonging to an Asiatic type. The elephant remains associated with it are also of Asiatic type no longer living in Africa. The high specialization of their molars leads Reck to the conclusion that the layer from which they and the fossil man came is a recent loess (jüngere Diluvium). This confirms the supposition that the Oldoway human remains might be of Aurignacian (upper Quaternary) age. Fossil Man in Australia.-The principal event of the Australian meeting of the British Association was the presentation of a fossilized human skull from Darling Downs on the border between New South Wales and Queensland. Unfortunately this specimen was not found in situ, but it is in the same state of fossilization as are the remains of extinct animal species found in that vicinity. The latter are said to be of Pleistocene age. The "solidly fossilized" human skull (that of a youth) was evidently not of the Neandertal type, yet the authorities present were of the opinion that it nevertheless represented an extremely primitive type. The presence of Pleistocene man in Australia would thus seem to fall but little short of full confirma- | anthropologists, D. Jenness and Henri tion. Beuchat. The Karluk was crushed In addition to the Darling Downs in the ice at Herald Island, in Janskull a number of important papers uary, 1914. Twelve of the party, inwere presented before the anthropo- cluding Beuchat, are missing or dead. logical section of the British Asso- Stefansson, who had left the ship beciation. The address of Sir Everard fore it was crushed, has not been im Thurn, the Chairman of the Sec- heard from since (see also XXIII, tion, was "A Study of Primitive Exploration and Geographical ReCharacter." The address was based search). Jenness is safe; through largely on Sir Everard's experiences the kindness of the Geological Survey "as an anthropological administrator of Canada we are able to publish his in tropical places where Eastern and report up to July, 1914: Western folk have met, and where the inevitable clash between the two has occurred." His conclusion is that the ultimate cause of the decrease of the natives when in contact with civilized folk is in the difference in hereditary mentality. At least one other paper should be mentioned because of its bearing on the methods of reconstructing the brain of fossil races of man from cranial casts. It contains the results of a series of observations made by Prof. J. Symington on the relations of the brain and skull with the object of ascertaining the extent to which casts of the cranial cavity enable us to estimate the form of the brain and especially the position of the cerebral fissures and the degree of development of the cerebral convolutions. Professor Symington finds that the position of but few of its fissures and convolutions can be ascertained from the bony cranial casts, and that the simplicity or complexity of the cerebral convolutions could not be inferred from the feeble or marked development of the digital impressions on the inner surface of the cranial wall. His observations tend to throw doubt on the reliability of descriptions of the Piltdown brain for example, or that of the man of Chapelleaux-Saints. Canada and the Arctic. The an When Mr. Stefansson and his hunting party became separated from the Karluk and journeyed east to join the southern party at Collinson Point, I the winter among the Eskimos of that dropped out at Harrison Bay to spend region. At Barrow Mr. Stefansson had engaged a half-caste lad to act as my interpreter whenever he should have leisure from his fox-trapping. With this lad I remained in Harrison Bay and its neighborhood from the middle Our food supplies were then completely of November until the end of January. exhausted; nor was there any sign of a sled coming from the east with more, as had been promised, so we travelled down to Barrow. A week later Mr. McConnell arrived with instructions for me to join the main body at Collinson time and it was not until March 20th Point. This journey occupied some that we finally reached our destination. My interpreter did not accompany me, but went back to live with his parents at Barrow. I stayed at Collinson Point for about a month, putting in order some of my notes and obtaining additional information from a few Eskimos who had gathered at the camp. out and travelling was difficult, a short In April before the rivers broke trip was made down to the CanadaAlaska boundary to make the acquaintance of a number of Mackenzie River Eskimos temporarily located at Icy Reef, and to examine, as far as the snow permitted, the ancient ruins dotted here and there along the coast. The three weeks following my return were thropological and ethnological activ- spent at Collinson Point, where some ities of Canada are under the direc- inland natives had concentrated before tion of the Geological Survey. It will scattering along the coast and, in the be recalled that the Canadian Arctic summer, going to meet the Barrow naExpedition, headed by Vilhjalmur tives at the mouth of the Canning Stefansson, sailed on the Karluk from River. By the end of May the snow Port Clarence, Alaska, in July, 1913 had melted sufficiently from the land (4. Y. B., 1913, p. 641). The object to make it advisable to proceed at once of the expedition was largely anthropological; Steffansson, himself an anthropologist, took with him two other to Barter Island and begin archæological investigations in that vicinity. This work occupied me until the latter end of July, when I broke up camp and |