1942: Paleontology, Vertebrate

Field Work.

Certain institutions located near well-known fossil fields were able to carry on field activities. This was true notably of the universities of Nebraska, Kansas, California, Texas Technological College and the California Institute of Technology. Some of the eastern institutions attempted limited field programs, namely the United States National Museum, the Frick Laboratories of the American Museum of Natural History, Yale University, the Cleveland Museum and the Carnegie Museum of Pittsburgh. There were completed two expeditions into central America, one from the Field Museum of Chicago to Honduras, under the leadership of Dr. Paul O. McGrew, and one from the University of California to El Salvador, under the leadership of Dr. R. R. Stirton.

Museums.

Additions to and improvements in the exhibits were made in most of the active museums.

Two new museum buildings for paleontological collections were completed during the year, one at Amherst College and one at the South Dakota School of Mines. Both of these institutions maintain valuable collections of Tertiary mammals, and the provision of new quarters for these two collections is adequate proof of public recognition of the value of the collections. The building at Amherst College, known as the Pratt Museum, consists of three large exhibition rooms plus several additional storage rooms — an increase that doubles the amount of space available for the collections. The museum of the South Dakota School of Mines is housed in the new O'Harra Memorial Building.

One very important and interesting museum development during the year was a reorganization at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, long recognized as the leading institution in the world for the collection, study and exhibition of fossil vertebrates. At this museum the Department of Paleontology, which was in the fifty-first year of its existence, was discontinued and the program of vertebrate paleontology was divided among several departments. Fossil and recent fishes were combined in the Department of Fishes, fossil and recent amphibians and reptiles were combined in a single department, while in a like manner there was a combination of fossil and recent mammals. Many of the museums had to curtail or in some cases even suspend their programs in vertebrate paleontology, owing to the fact that staff members were called away on war service.

Research and Publication.

Among the publications may be mentioned a comparative study of the endocranial casts and the brains of fossil and recent amphibians by A. S. Romer and T. Edinger.

In the field of fossil reptile studies much was accomplished during the year. First mention must be given to the monographic study by R. S. Lull and N. E. Wright of the hadrosaurian dinosaurs of North America, a complete review of the interesting and important duck-billed dinosaurs. A paper related to this monograph was C. M. Sternberg's study of the course of the nasal passages in the crested duck-billed dinosaurs. Another paper of great importance was C. W. Gilmore's study of Polyglyphanodon, a peculiar lizard from the Upper Cretaceous of Utah. B. Brown and E. M. Schlakijer described the skeleton of the small ceratopsian dinosaur, Leptoceratops. C. L. Camp published studies on marine reptiles of the Mesozoic, namely a paper on California mosasaurs and one on California ichthyosaurs. T. E. White and C. C. Mook brought out descriptions of new crocodilians.

In the field of mammalian paleontology the event of outstanding importance was the appearance of Volume II of the great monographic study of the Proboscidea by the late H. F. Osborn. This volume, a complete review of the elephantine proboscideans, appeared posthumously. C. L. Gazin and J. M. Sullivan published a description of a new titanothere from the Eocene of Mississippi, an important paper because of the record of an entirely new fossil deposit and also because of its stratigraphic implications. T. E. White described Miocene mammals from an important locality in Florida, containing some new and unusual forms. J. T. Gregory published a detailed study of the Pliocene vertebrates from Big Spring Canyon in South Dakota, while E. H. Colbert described a new edentate of unusual form and relationships from Wyoming. R. A. Stirton and H. F. Goeriz described the fossil vertebrates from Knights Ferry, Calif., while the former author discussed at some length the origin and relationships of the horse, Equus. C. W. Hibbard and G. C. Rinker described a new lemming from Kansas. B. Patterson described new mammals from South America. There were several papers that discussed paleontological problems of broad aspect. R. Kellogg considered the marine mammals of South America and the West Indies. G. G. Simpson discussed the early Cenozoic mammals of South America. E. H. Colbert discussed the problem of the association of man and extinct mammals in the western hemisphere.

A paper of much general interest and great importance was G. G. Simpson's historical review of the beginnings of vertebrate paleontology in North America, the result of a thorough study of all of the early records and publications.