A Preliminary History of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences, 1880-1982

The Nebraska Academy of Sciences is the oldest scientific organization in the state of Nebraska and was formed to encourage the exchange of scientific data and to improve the communication between the various disciplines of scientific research in the different educational institutions. Those were the goals a century ago. Today they are basically the same: To promote the utilization of scientific talent in the State of Nebraska in cooperation with local, state, federal, and private organizations in addressing all problems of the environment as they relate to science, and, To dedicate its collective and individual talents to promoting the best possible education for young people, and to instilling in them awareness of the relationship of science, technology, and the changing environment

A New Fossil Bovid from Nebraska With Notice of a New Bison Quarry in Texas

An interesting and unique bovid skull was reported to the staff of the University of Nebraska State Museum in 1938 by Mr. Alvin McReynolds of Nehawka, Nebraska. The specimen was found in 1933 in a ravine north of Nehawka by Messrs. Merritt and Harold Dodson, brothers. Although the skull was not in place, it appears to have been washed out of a nearby Pleistocene clay deposit by floodwaters. The specimen is well preserved and is of a dark brown, almost black color. In 1938 it was loaned to the Museum for study and photographing but was not obtained as a permanent acquisition until June 17, 1941, when Messrs. Frank Walker Johnson and C. Bertrand Schultz visited the Dodson brothers at Nehawka and procured the specimen for the Morrill Paleontological Collections

A Preliminary History of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences, 1880-1982

The Nebraska Academy of Sciences is the oldest scientific organization in the state of Nebraska and was formed to encourage the exchange of scientific data and to improve the communication between the various disciplines of scientific research in the different educational institutions. Those were the goals a century ago. Today they are basically the same: To promote the utilization of scientific talent in the State of Nebraska in cooperation with local, state, federal, and private organizations in addressing all problems of the environment as they relate to science, and, To dedicate its collective and individual talents to promoting the best possible education for young people, and to instilling in them awareness of the relationship of science, technology, and the changing environment

A New Tribe of Saber-toothed Cats (\u3ci\u3eBarbourofelini\u3c/i\u3e) from the Pliocene of North America

A new genus of Pliocene Saber-toothed felid, Barbourofelis, is proposed and two new species B. fricki and B. morrisi are described. These two forms and other described material represent an unusual lineage of felids with long sabers, shortened crania, and massive postorbital bars. The tribal name Barbourofelini is proposed for this lineage which is presently known in North America from deposits ranging in age from Clarendonian through Kimballian. The Barbourofelini apparently migrated from Eurasia to North America in the Late Miocene or Early Pliocene. Sansanosmilus of the French Vindobonian appears to represent the ancestral stock of these cats. The following genera of other saber-toothed felids are discussed: Hoplophoneus, Eusmilus, Dinictis, Nimravus, Ekgmoiteptecela, Ma.chairodus, Ischyrosmilus, Homotherium, H. (Dinobastis), Megantereon, and Smilodon. The two generic names Albanosmilus and Grivasmilus also are considered. The continued usage of the provincial age terms Valentinian and Kimballian is recommended, and a faunal list for these units in Nebraska is provided

\u3ci\u3eArretotherium fricki\u3c/i\u3e, A New Miocene Anthracothere from Nebraska

A new species of middle Miocene (early Hemingfordian) anthraco-there, Arretotherium fricki Macdonald and Schultz is described based on a cranium from the upper Marsland deposits of Nebraska. The holotype suggests that this genus was derived from the Oligocene genus Elomeryx Marsh

PALAEONTOLOGIC AND GEOLOGIC CONSIDERATION OF EARLY MAN IN NEBRASKA

There has been much discussion recently relative to the geologic age of Yuma and Folsom artifacts. The writers submit the following palaeontological and geological data which may aid in a better interpretation of the subject. This paper deals with three localities in Nebraska where Yuma and Folsom implements have been found with extinct mammals; namely, the Scottsbluff Bison Quarry, the Sand Hill blow-out sites, and the Sioux County artifact sites

THE MOUNTED SKELETON OF BISON OCCIDENTALIS, AND ASSOCIATED DART-POINTS

A composite skeleton of Bison occidentalis was mounted and installed in its case on the lower floor of Morrill Hall, on April 22, 1932. The skeleton in itself is attractive because of its size and excellent preservation, and is rendered additionally interesting by two dart-points, one found under the scapula, and the other under the ribs

\u3ci\u3eParabos dodsoni\u3c/i\u3e Barbour and Schultz: A Correction

A Bos-like animal, Parabos dodsoni, was recently described by Barbour and Schultz (1941, A New Fossil Bovid from Nebraska , Bull. Univ. Nebr. State Museum, Vol. II, No. 7, pp. 63-66, Figs. 24-27, December) as a new genus and species from the Pleistocene of Nebraska. Attention has been called to the writers by Dr. E. H. Colbert of the American Museum of Natural History that the name Parabos is preoccupied. Parabos was introduced as a generic name by C. Arambourg and J. Piveteau (1929, Note preliminaire sur un Ruminant du Pliocene inferieur du Roussillon, C. R. Bull. Soc. Geol. de France, 4th Ser., XXIX, pp. 144-146). Unfortunately the reference was missed by the present writers as well as by the editors of the Zoological Record (1929-1939). The writers propose the name Platycerabos to replace Parabos for the new American bovid. The corrected designation would thus be Platycerabos dodsoni (Barbour and Schultz). The occurrence of a Bos-like form from the Pleistocene of North America is unique. It has long been thought that the migration of true bovines from Asia to North America during the Pleistocene was limited to Bison, but the discovery of Platycerabos dodsoni has altered this belief

A NEW GIANT CAMEL, TITANOTYLOPUS NEBRASKENSIS, gen. et sp. nov.

The purpose of this bulletin is to figure and describe a .amel brought to light in the field season of 1933, which seems to be the giant of all camels found in the State. The specimen consists of the right ramus with the symphysial portion. The mandible is 26% inches long, or about the length of one\u27s outstretched arm to the finger tips. This jaw is nine inches longer than that of Camelops kansanus. Such an extraordinary jaw indicates a camel nearly twice as large as Alticamelus altus. In reference to its unusual size we are proposing for it the name Titanotylopus nebraskensis. The teeth are very brachyodont, and the incisors are not spatulate. The dental formula of T-itanotylopus nebraskensis reads as follows: i 3, c 1, p 2, m 3. The third incisor was practically aborted as indicated by the small and very shallow alveolus crowded close to the base of the canine. The first left incisor has the enamel preserved on the inner side. It measures but 19 mm. in height. It should be noted that in Pliauchenia the cheek teeth are subbrachyodont to hypsodont; in M egatylopus they are more or less hypsodont; and in Titanotylopus they are distinctly brachyodont. Obviously premolars 1 and 2 have long been missing in this genus for not a vestige of them has been left. Such an assemblage of characters seems well beyond the realm of mere variation, and we find no ready escape from making this a new genus. So few genera of camels are reported as yet from the Pleistocene that Titanotylopus deserves the more attention. This unusual specimen was secured during the first week in September, 1933, by Frank Crabill (Class of 1935), a member of the Morrill Palaeontological Expedition of 1933, but was found, collected, and donated by Mr. and Mrs. S. E. Jensen of Red Cloud who found it in a small pit about eight miles northwest of Red Cloud, Webster County, Nebraska. The exact location of this pit is the N.W.1,4, Sec. 17, T. 2 N., R. 11 W. The jaw was found 33 feet below the surface in Pleistocene gravel of supposed Kansan age, and is accessioned 1-6-9-33, the Nebraska State Museum. The specimen consists of the right ramus of the mandible together with the symphysis intact, the dentition being complete but damaged by exposure