No. 4. — Observations on the type specimen of the fossil cetacean Anoplonassa forcipata Cope. By Frederick VV. True. I have recently had an opportunity of examining the type of the re-markable fossil cetacean Anoplonassa forcipata Cope, belonging to the Museum of Comparative Zoology. This specimen, on which the species was founded by Cope in 1869, 1 consists of the distal portion of a mandi-ble, 191 mm. long. In the original description, Cope remarked that it was obtained, with remains of Mastodon, " not far from Savannah, Geor-gia." In 1890 he stated that it was from the " phosphatic deposits" of South Carolina. 2 His original description and figures are excellent, but the copies of the latter, published on a reduced scale in 1890, do not rep-resent the specimen accurately. Faithful copies were published in Van Beneden and Gervais's Osteography of the Cetacea. 3 Few cetologists have published any critical remarks on this interest-ing species and probably fewer still have ever seen the type and only known specimen. Cope, the original describe!*, was long in doubt as to its affinities, and, indeed, seems never to have come to a conclusion re-garding them. In 1869 he thought its relationships were with the "aberrant cetacea." "The nearest types," he remarked, "appear to be on the one hand Si-renia, and on the other, Squalodon." 4 In 1890 he actually placed it among the Sirenia, in the family Halitheriidae, 5 but cautiously remarked, " it is by no means certain that it belongs here, and it may be a Ceta-cean." His remarks five years later (1895) indicate that he was then con-vinced that it was a cetacean and that it might be more or less closely related to the ziphioids. In describing his new genus Pelycorhamphus, which he assigns to the Choneziphiidae, he adds : 1 Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc, 11, p. 189, Plate 5. 2 Amer. Nat., 24, p. 700, Fig. 2. This apparent discrepancy may not be a real one, as Savannah is very close to the boundary line of South Carolina. 3 Osteograpliie des Ce'taces, 1880, p. 386, text-fig. 4 Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc, 11, p. 189. 5 Amer. Nat., 24, Plate 700, Fig. 2. vol. li. — No. 4 7
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