SCIENCE EDITORIAL COMMITTEE: S. NEWCOMB, Mathematics; R. S. WOODWARD, Mechanics; E. C. PICKERING, C. HART MERRIAM, Zoology; S. H. SCUDDER, Entomology; C. E. BESSEY, N. L. BRITTON, Keilhack's Kalender für Geologen, Paläontologen and Mineralogen : J. B. WOODWORTH. Webster 169 173 on the Chinch Bug: PROFESSOR T. D. A. Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters: Discussion and Correspondence : The Storing of Pamphlets: PROFESSOR WINSLOW 179 184 FRONTAL HORN ON ACERATHERIUM IN CISIVUM. RELATION OF THIS TYPE TO ELASMOTHERIUM. IN the classical collection of the Museum of Darmstadt there are the two type skulls of Aceratherium incisivum, Kaup, which have hardly been disturbed since the death of that distinguished paleontologist. Through the kindness of Professor G. Richard Lepsius, the writer was recently enabled to carefully examine these skulls, which are in a fragile condition. A slight rugosity was observed upon the frontal bones just behind their junction with the nasals, and a very careful examination demonstrated to both Professor Lepsius and the writer the undoubted presence of a rudimentary frontal horn in this typical hornless type. Even more distinctive proof of the existence of a horn is afforded by the characteristic convergence towards the center of the rugosity of a number of small grooves which indicate the course of the blood vessels which supplied the horn. The support of a horn is further indicated by a distinct swelling of the skull above the orbits which is observed with especial distinctness in the profile view. This swelling will probably be found to consist of a thickening of the frontals at this point. This discovery is of the very greatest interest. In the first place it practically removes this typical Acerathere from the group to which it has given its name and places it among the Rhinoceroses. Second, the precocious development of the frontal horn, and the marked reduction of the nasals, at once suggested to the writer that this animal may possibly represent an ancestor of Elasmotherium, which, as is well known, was distinguished from all other Rhinoceroses by the smooth, narrow nasals and enormously developed frontal horns, as shown in the accompaning figures. It is true that in A. incisivum the horns are small, the rugosity, or horn core, being rudimentary; but in paleontology a rudiment is almost invariably prophetic of a fully developed organ in a later horizon. question whether this type actually marks the first branching-off of the Elasmotheres from the Aceratheres turns, therefore, upon a detailed comparison of the skull and skeleton of the two types. Both skulls are dolichocephalic with high occiputs. A marked difference is seen in the very narrow space between the orbit and narial opening in A. incisivum, as compared with the broad space in Elasmotherium. These and other differences may be due to profound changes which occurred during the Pliocene period, for Elasmotherium is a well-advanced Pleistocene type. Other profound changes which would be involved in such a transformation are in the loss of old cutting teeth and the folding of the enamel in the molar teeth, so characteristic of the Pleistocene form. Taken altogether, the evidence that A. incisivum is an ancestral Elasmothere is, however, decidedly slender at present, and we must probably await the discovery of intermediate stages in the Pliocene of Europe or Asia. HENRY F. OSBORN. REPORT CONCERNING THE OFFICIAL STATE BUREAUS CONNECTED WITH THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY.* I SUBMIT for your information the following report concerning the Maryland Geo *A report presented to the President of the Johns Hopkins University. logical Survey and the Maryland Weather Service during the past year. Much of the work of these bureaus is carried on in cooperation with the Geological Department, and the offices are provided by the University free of all charges to the State. THE MARYLAND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. The Maryland Geological Survey, which was established by an act of the General Assembly of 1896, began operations upon March 25th of that year, when, by the action of the Commission designated by the act, the organization of the Survey was formally effected. The General Assembly of 1898 passed two additional acts which added largely to the powers of the State Survey Commission by providing for the construction of topographic maps and the investigation of the question of proper highways for the State. By the first act an additional appropriation of $5,000 annually was granted, while the second act appropriated $10,000 annually, the original appropriation of $10,000 annually by the Assembly of 1896 still remaining in force. By these acts the Survey received the very generous appropriation of $25,000 annually. During the two and a-half years that the Survey has been in operation several lines of investigation have been taken up, some of which have already been followed to a conclusion. The preliminary survey of the State, in which general information in regard to the geology and economic resources was secured, placed the Survey in a position to inaugurate those lines of investigation which would prove most beneficial to the people of the State and at the same time would contribute most largely to the sum of knowledge regarding the stratigraphy and structure of Maryland. In connection with this general survey there has been maintained a system of collection of statistical data regarding the output of each industry that has to do with the mineral Forms are annually Forms are annually of the producers of wealth of the State. placed in the hands mineral products, which upon their return are filed at the office of the Survey. In this manner an accurate account is kept of the mineral products of the State, which aggregate in value from six to seven million dollars annually. The work of the Survey has been systematically divided and a competent man placed in charge of each one of the divisions. Dr. E. B. Mathews, in addition to his duties as Assistant State Geologist, is Chief of the Division of Geology of the Piedmont Plateau; Professor Charles S. Prosser is in charge of the Division of Geology of the Appalachian Region, and Dr. George B. Shattuck is in charge of the Division of the Coastal Plain. The work of the Survey embraces many subjects related to geology, among which is the investigation of our highways, Dr. H. F. Reid being Chief of the important Division of Highways. Dr. L. A. Bauer is in charge of the Division of Terrestrial Magnetism. Several special assistants in charge of independent lines of work are also employed: Mr. A. N. Johnson in Highway Engineering; Dr. Cleveland Abbe, Jr., in Physiography, and Messrs. Basil Sollers and B. W. Barton in Botany. At the same time active cooperation is maintained with several of the Washington bureaus, especially with the U. S. Geological Survey and the bureaus and divisions. of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. The aid which has been rendered by the Washington scientific departments has been of great importance to the successful prosecution of the State work. The topographic work of the Survey has been much extended during the past year, an area of several hundred square miles having been surveyed upon a scale of one mile to an inch in western Allegany and Garrett counties. The surveying force is provided by the U. S. Geological Survey through a plan of cooperation between the national bureau and the Maryland Geological Survey. The magnetic work under the charge of Dr. Bauer was continued in the western part of Maryland. Dr. Bauer completed his work on the western boundary of the State during 1897, and was able to be of great service to the Attorney-General of Maryland, who had the matter in charge. All the magnetic and astronomical work was placed in charge of Dr. Bauer, and he was throughout recognized as the scientific authority upon the State force. During the summer of 1898 a part of Dr. Bauer's time was taken up in the survey of the boundary line between Allegany and Garrett counties, which had been authorized by a special act of the last General Assembly. This work, which had been many times unsuccessfully attempted, was satisfactorily accomplished, and a report published in September. The more strictly geological work of the Survey was carried on by the instructors and students of the Geological Department of the University, with such cooperation as was deemed necessary along special lines. Professor George P. Merrill, of the United States National Museum, rendered the Survey a very important service in the conduct of the investigations upon the building and decorative stones of the State. Extensive areal and economic work was conducted both in the western and central counties of the State. Surveys of Allegany and Garrett counties were completed and a large amount of data collected for the special economic reports which will appear later. The highway investigations have occupied the attention of the Survey since the spring of the present year, and a considerable force was employed under the direction of Dr. Reid and his associate, Mr. Johnson, in the study of the highway conditions of |