C. W. Andrews

I.—Notes on some New Crocodilia from the Eocene of Egypt

During the last few years a considerable number of Crocodilian remains have been collected from the Middle and Upper Eocene beds of the Fayum, most of these specimens having been obtained by Mr. H. J. L. Beadnell in the course of his excavations in that locality. This material has recently been examined and determined, and it is found that several new species belonging to the genera Crocodilus and Tomistoma are represented by more or less complete remains. In the present note it is proposed to give a preliminary account of these new forms, which will be fully described and figured in the Catalogue of the Tertiary Vertebrata of the Fayum now in course of preparation.

III.—Notes on the Osteology of Ophthalmosaurus icenicus , Seeley, an Ichthyosaurian Reptile from the Oxford Clay of Peterborough

During the last few months the preparation of a descriptive catalogue of the magnificent collection of reptilian remains obtained by Mr. A. N. Leeds in the Oxford Clay of Peterborough, has rendered it necessary to examine in some detail the fine series of more or less complete skeletons of Ophlhalmosurus preserved in the British Museum. In the course of this examination a certain number of new facts have come to light, and since it will be some time before the detailed description can appear it seems desirable to give a brief account of some of the more interesting points.

IV.—Note on the Molar Tooth of an Elephant from the Bed of the Nile, near Khartum

In sinking the caissons for the construction of the bridge over the Blue Nile near Khartum, a considerable number of bones have been found, from time to time, in the alluvial beds, at depths of 60–68 feet below the level of low Nile. These specimens were obtained by Messrs. Hinckley, Stephen, and Le Bailly, and are now deposited in the collection of the Geological Survey of the Sudan at Khartum.

I.—Fossil Mammalia from Egypt

A considerable collection of mammalian bones obtained by the officers of the Egyptian Geological Survey, and sent to England by Captain H. Lyons for determination, proves to contain a number of specimens of great interest. The remains unfortunately are, for the most part, very fragmentary and in many cases quite indeterminable, but they are still sufficient to indicate the existence in Northern Egypt of several distinct mammalian faunas, the oldest being of Lower Miocene age, the most recent probably late Pleistocene and including species now living in the Nile Valley.

I.—Note on a Mounted Skeleton of Myotragus balearicus , Bate

In the volume of this Magazine for the year 1909 (p. 385) Miss D. M. A. Bate gave a short account with some figures of a remarkably modified goat-like ruminant discovered in some remnants of cave-deposits in Majorca.1 The chief peculiarities of this curious creature are that (1) instead of possessing the three pairsof incisors and pair of canines in the lower jaw, usual in the group,only the median pair of incisors remains, and these teeth are modifiedto form large permanently growing teeth like the incisors of arodent; (2) the cannon bones on both the front and hind foot areextraordinarily shortened, this being especially marked in the former.

IV.—Note on a Model of the Skull and Mandible of Prozeuglodon atrox , Andrews

During the last few years several papers have been published which throw much light on the early history of the whales, a matter about which there have been great doubt and difference of opinion. Two important points appear to have been settled: first, that the Zeuglodonts ( Archœceti ) are descended from the primitive group of land-carnivores, usually known as the Creodonta, and, second, that the Toothed-whales ( Odontoceti ) are really derived from the Zeuglodonts. On this second point there may still be room for doubt, although in the opinion of the present writer the evidence brought forward by Professor Abel in several papers, is at least sufficient to demonstrate the extreme probability that the Archaeoceti are really ancestors of the Odontoceti. The origin of the Baleen-whales ( Mystacoceti ) is still obscure, but the fact that numerous true teeth are found in the unborn young, points to the probability that these animals also may have originated from the same, or a closely related stock as that from which the Odontoceti have descended.

I.—Note on the Gigantic Land Tortoise ( Testudo Ammon , Andrews), from the Upper Eocene of Egypt

In the course of his excavations in the Upper Eocene beds of the Fayum during the early part of 1902, Mr. H. J. L. Beadnell unearthed a remarkably fine shell of a very large species of Testudo . A brief description of this specimen was afterwards published in Cairo by the present writer, and it was made the type of a new species, Testudo Ammon . At the same time Mr. Beadnell gave a short account of the beds in which it was found, and of the methods employed by him for its preservation and transport to the Museum in Cairo.

III.—Fossil Mammalia from Egypt. Part II

In addition to the remains of the large Anthracotheriod ( Brachyodus africanus ) described in the first part of this paper (Geol. Mag., Dec. IV, Vol. VI, 1899, p. 481), the collection of mammalian bones from the Lower Miocene of Moghara also includes portions of the skeleton of a small rhinoceros. Unfortunately this is very poorly represented, there being only an incomplete scapula and an atlas vertebra, and in the absence of any portion of the skull or teeth it is impossible to determine the species to which it may have belonged. As was pointed out in Part I, the age of the deposit is Burdigalien (Lowest Miocene), and it is therefore contemporary with the Sables de I’Orleanais and the fresh-water deposits of Eggenburg. From the latter no rhinoceros remains are recorded, but from the former several species seem to have been obtained. Of these only one, Aceratherium aurelianense , has been described and figured.