PALAEONTOLOGY

during the period 1910-26 the science of extinct forms of life made remarkable progress, especially in north america, where explorations and studies were less interrupted by the world war. the contact of palaeontology with other sciences—even those apparently remote like astron- omy, physics and chemistry, less remote like comparative anatomy, or very intimate like geology—was one of the out- standing features of the synthetic work accomplished. of tran- scendent interest, however, was the contact between mammalian palaeontology and anthropology, especially through the re- searches of william k. gregory of the american museum of natural history and of g. elliot smith of london university, principal synthetic works,—chief among the synthetic works in pure palaeontology are those of the austrian palaeontologist othenio abel, grundztige der palueobiologie der \irbelttere (1g12), die stimme der wirbeltiere'(1919), and lehrbuch der palaeezoologie (1920), which give masterly reviews of the whole fossil history of the verte- brates, especially in analogous and convergent adaptation. in inver- tebrate palacontology the reader is referred to amadeus grabau's principles of stratigraphy (1913) and textbook of geology (1920-1), in which are summed up the principles derived from the teachings of waagen and neumayr in germany, of hyatt and beecher in america, in pure palaeontology and in application to geology. a broad syn- thetic treatment of climate and time in relation to the evolution ot life is that of the late joseph barrell (1917) in his rhythms and the measurements of geologic time. the best synthetic treatment of climate, time and geologic change in relation to the geologic origin and the migration of the different vertebrate groups is william diller matthew's climate and evolution (1915). the subdivisions of geo- logic time and the successions of faunas and climates are broadly reviewed in the textbook of geology by louis v. pirsson and charles schuchert (1915; rev. ed., vol. 1, 1921). the latest summary of the geology, past physiography and palaeontology of the world is found in the french edition of the great work of eduard suess, dus antlitz der erde, translated and annotated by emmanuel de margerie as la face de la terre (1902, 1918). the comparative cvolution of the mammatii of the eastern hemisphere and of north america is broadly treated in henry fairfield osborn’s age ef afammals (1910); while the mammnals of north and south america are compared in w. b. scott’s iistory of land afammals in the western hemisphere (1913). a broad treatment of the whole subject of invertebrate and verte- brate evolution is given in richard s. lull’s organic evolution (1917) and a synthetic review of the earth's history, from its solar begin- nings to the age of man, in osborn’s origin and evolution of life. life epochs of geologic time.—the time scale in the accom- panying table is taken from the work of pirsson and schuchert of 1915, modified by the substitution of geologic time units for years, there is a growing indisposition to reckon past time in terms of years, and a growing tendency to substitute a relative term like faze wntis, because of theenormously wide discrepancy between the older estimates of geologists, based on sedimentation and the thickness of the various assemblages of rocks which taken together make up the whole geologic time scale, and the estimates of physicists, based on the slow liberation of radium from radioactive minerals. the radium estimates of the age of the earth range as high as 1,400,000,000 years for the oldest known rocks, according to barrell, who has adopted the calcula- tions of rutherford and others based on the “ rate of disintegra- tion’ of radioactive minerals (sce puysics). for the contrast sce the table on p. 14. the most original part of barrell’s contribution was the meas- urement of time from the base of the palaeozoic to recent time by new palaeophysiographic methods, taking into account par- ticularly the rhythms or cycles of dry and moist climates and of elevations and depressions, theories which were originally interpreted by t. c. chamberlin and popularly treated by ellsworth huntington, the physiographer of yale university. 14 life epochs age of man and of mammals—cenozoic age of reptiles—mesozoic ek bd age of amphibians, fishes, invertebrates—palacozoic minimum total maximum total . a few decades ago the physicists and mathematicians, espe- cially kelvin and tait, insisted that the earth could not be more than 10,000,000 to 20,000,000 years old; now the physicists are extending the age of the life period to 1,400 million years, as estimated by barrell (1917). the most recent determination by physicists, as reviewed by lord rayleizh (1921), takes into consideration the transmutation of chemical elements, for example, in the breggerite of the precambrian rocks at moss, norway :— taking the lead as all produced by uranium at the rate above given, we get an age of 925,000,000 years. some minerals from other archaean rocks in norway give a rather longer age. the helium method is applicable in some cases to materials found in the younger formations, and proves that the ages even of these are to be reckoned in millions of years. thus the helium in an eocene iron ore indicated 30,000,000 years at least. . the upshot is that radioactive methods of research indicate a moderate multiple of 1,000 million years as the duration of the earth’s crust as suitable for the habitation of living beings, and that no other considerations from the side of pure physics or astronomy afford any definite presumption against this estimate. applying this estimate to the evolution of a familiar mammal like the horse it might be said that the four-toed horse (ohip- pus) existed 30,000,000 years ago, a somewhat larger estimate of the life period of the horse than that demanded by palaeon- tologists. in the same discussion w. j. sollas comments on the expansion of time estimates proposed by physicists:- the age of the earth was thus increased from a mere score of millions to a thousand millions and more, and the geologist who had before been bankrupt in time now found himself suddenly transformed into a capitalist with more millions in the bank than he knew how to dispose of (see geology). in this connection we may recall the fact that as early as 1859 charles darwin pointed out that the hizh degree of evolution and specialisation seen in the invertebrate fossils at the base of the palaeozoic, namely, the cambrian, proved that precambrian evolution occupied a period as lonz as, or even longer than, that of cambrian to recent time (see table i.). poulton, the leading disciple of darwin in england (1896), declared that 400,000,000 years was none too long for the whole life evolution period; this would allow 200,000,000 years for precambrian time and another 209,000,000 years from cambrian to recent time. walcott’s revelation of precambrian and cambrian life— chirles d. walcott (1899, 1914) has discovered the remains of life in the precambrian (proterozoic) rocks of north america and has been able to give us a fragmentary picture of the fauna and ilora of that very ancient period. in montana, at a depth of nearly 10,000 ft. below the earliest palaeozoic rocks (cambrian), he found evidence of ancient reef deposits of calcareous algae, which ranged upward through 2,000 ft. of strata. above these reefs are 3,000 ft. of shales containing worm trails and the frag- mentary remains of large crustacean-like organisms. from rocks of aporoximately the same age in ontario, canada, he has described sponge-like forms (atikokania) which are of such gen- eralised structure that it is difficult to decide whether they should be regarded as sponges or as archaic corals. these few plant and animal remains are all that are known from remotely meta- morphosed rocks of precambrian time, but the existence of annelids and possible arthropods marks a break into the hitherto unknown precambrian. walcott’s most surprising discovery in precambrian time is a monad or bacterium attributed to micro- coccus sp. indet. from the algonkian of montana, but probably related to the existing nitrosomonas, one of the prototrophic bacteria, which derives its nitrogen from ammonium salts. {in roto walcott discovered in the cambrian (burgess) shales of alberta, canada, a marvellously rich fauna whose preserva- precambrian time—evolution of invertebrates and of unicellular life palaeontology walcott (1893) years barrell (1917) nears 3,000,000 55,000,000- 65,000,000 g,000,000 140,000,000—180,000,000 18,000,000 360,000,000-540,000,000 30,000,000 600,000,000-—800,000,000 90,000,000 (geikie, 1899) 400,000,000 (geikie, 1899) i 200,000,000 i,.400,000,000 tion is so perfect that the setae of the worms, the jointed append- ages of the trilobites, the impressions of soft-bodied medusae and holothurians, and even the alimentary tract and stomach of certain of the crustaceans can be seen on the shale surfaces almost as clearly as in living forms (plate i.). this discovery fairly revolutionises our knowledge of the anatomy of the deli- cately organised as well as the chitinous-armoured forms, like the trilobites. including the new forms contained within these albertan shales, the cambrian marine fauna is now known to be far more abundant than even imagined by darwin, comprising some 1,500 species, 1,200 of which occur in north america. from lower as well as middle cambrian (burgess) faunas, it appears that the precambrian invertebrates had probably be- come completely adapted to all the life zones of the continental and oceanic waters, excepting possibly the abyssal. all the principal phyla—the jointed arthropoda (including the trilobites among the crustaceans and the merostomes among the arach- nids), .ssegmented worms (annelida), echinoderms, molluscs (including pelecypods, gastropods and primitive cephalopods), brachiopods, medusae and other coclenterates and sponges— were presumably established in precambrian times. the cambrian fauna has been made known to us in large measure through the ficld discoveries and monographic studies of philip lake (1906) for great britain, of walcott (1909-21) for north america and of cowper reed (1915) for india. the great variety and high specialisation of the cambrian marine forms, including representatives of all the known marine inver- tebrate phyla, is in harmony with the trend of discovery among the vertebrates, which is to put the origin of existing families very far back into the age of mammals and even into the age of reptiles (mesozoic). in fact, the antiquity and persistence of modern types, as distinguished from modern genera and species, is an illustration of a very far-reaching principle, namely, that the most stable form of energy in matter known is that of the heredity chromatin on which this extraordinary preservation of the main features of the ancestral type depends. next to the stability of the properties of the chemical elements, which pass into each other by transmutation, the most stable physicochem- ical properties are those which form the heredity lasis of life. freshwater and terrestrial origins —the eurypterids appear as contemporaries of the cambrian trilobites and traces of them are found in precambrian rocks; they attain to their acme in s:lurian time and develop into the ei, ht-foot giants of the fauna of the devonian of scotland and eastern north america, suffer- inz extinction at the close of the palaeozoic. in 1916 appeared m irjorie o’connell’s memoir, entitled the habitat of the euryp- ferida, giving as the summation of her studies that throughout their entire phylogenetic history the eurypterids lived in the rivers, a conclusion accepted in the main by schuchert (1916), with the modification that they also appeared to have lived at times in the brackish waters of more or less large bays and pos- sibly in limited numbers even in the seas. many other origins formerly traced to the sea have more recently been traced to fresh water. in 1900 t. c. chamberlin put forward the hypothesis of a prevailing freshwater origin both for the ancestral backboned animals known as chordates as well as for the much more ancient arthropods, the eurypterids. his strong influence was needed to overcome the widespread notion that all forms of life originated in the sea; and, one after another, theories of freshwater and terrestrial origin have replaced the theory of marine origin. early in 1916 barrell pointed out the influence of silurian- devonian climates on the rise of air-breathing vertebrates and freshwater origin in devonian time under seasonal rainfall, palaeontology table i. life epochs and geologic time units of europe and north america (after pirsson and schuchert, 1915; issued by osborn in 1918). millions lower cretaceous {comanchean) jurassic triassic reptiles mesozoic permian pennsylvan-: ian {upper carboniferous! age of amphibians mississippian {lower carboniferous) devonian silurian 390 a a algomian sudburian rer am laurentian grenville (keewatin) igneous secondary. entombed fossils direct evidence of former life late palaeozoic fishes mid-palaeozoic 18,000,000 time units palaeozoic inverte= early palaeozoic ‘rocks chiefly unmetamorphosed: sedimentary predominant; (algonkiany evolution of inverte- brates late proterozoic igneous predominant; proterozoic early proterozoic evolution of unicellular life ““precambrian,’’ 30,000,000 time units (coutchiching) indirect evidence of former life. fossils scarce. rocks generally metamorphosed: sedimentary secondary. limestone, iron ore, and graphite archaeozoic (arghean) 15 schuchert continues that the probable freshwater life of the eurypterids opens a vista into continental life as far back as the upper cambrian. other merostomes related to the eurypterids radiated out from the fluviatile faunas of cambrian, ordovician and silurian time, while in the devonian rivers dwelt great spider-like eurypterids together with forms so similar to scor- pions that they might be called river scorpions, and others that were active swimmers. o’connell’s argument regarding the freshwater eurypterids applies equally to limulus, the horse- shoe crab. in brief, the existence of freshwater faunas no less varied than the marine faunas is beginning to be traced back to lower cambrian time. o’connell shows that the entire phylogeny of the eurypterids, which includes about 160 species from the precambrian to the end of the palaeozoic, distributed in 78 geologic horizons throughout the world, points to migra- tions like those of fishes from the headwaters of interlacing river systems and, taken with other evidence, strongly supports the theory of predevonian river life as opposed to the general assumption of marine life of all early faunas. it now appears that beginning in precambrian time the trilo- bites, by wide adaptive radiation, reached the acme of their development in the cambrian, displaying a high degree of articu- lation and specialisation of appendages, suffered a marked decline after the silurian, and became extinct at the end of the palaeozoic. james perrin smith, who has made a very exhaus- tive analysis of cephalopod evolution and especially of the triassic ammonites, observes that the evolution of form con- tinues uninterruptedly even where there is no evidence whatever of environmental change. principal literature, cambrian to pleistocene.—a few of the major contributions to our knowledyve of the life of the palaeozoic are: cambrian geology and palaeontology (1910) and cambrian frachto- poda (1912) by charles d. walcott; cambrian fossils of spiti (1915) and other papers on the palaeozoic of india by cowper heed; a monograph of british cambrian trilobites (1906) by vhilip lake, and a monograph of british graptoities (1901) by gertrude elles and ethel wood. the foraminifera have been treated by e. schell- wien, afonographie der fusulinen (1908-12); the bryozoa by r. s. bassler, karly palaeozoic bryozoa of the baltic provinces (1911) and g. w. lee, british carboniferous trepostomata (1912); the echino- derms by r. t. jackson in his memoir on the phylogeny of the eechini with a revision of palaeozoic species (1912), and by frank springer in his monograph crinotdea flexibilia (1920) and in nu- microus shorter contributions. the ancient arthropods, including, besides the trilobites, merostomes and other arachnids and also insects, have been described by j. m. clarke and r. ruedemann in their memoir on the eurypterida of new york (1912), by alexan- der petrunkevitch, a afonograph of the terrestrial palaeozoic arach- rida of north america (1913), by r. i. pocock, a monograph of the terrestrial carboniferous arachnida of great britain (1911), and by i, meunier, nonvelles recherches sur quelques insectes du terrain houiller de commentry (allier) (1906-12). the literature on the mesozoic contains more references to ammonites than to other groups, because of their abundance and palaeontological importance. the ammonite faunas of the triassic have been described by j. perrin snuth, lhe afiddle triassic marine invertebrate faunas of north america (1914), and by carl diener, the trias of the himalayas (1912), japanische triasfaunen (1915), and other papers on the triassic of the himalayas and southern europe (1915). for the jurassic there are the classic volumes by s. s. buckman, yorkshire type ammonites (1909-19) continued in the type am- monites (1920) and the memoir by c. burckhardt, fannes juras- siques et cretaciques de san pedro del gallo (1912) for mexico. the studies on cretaceous ammonites have been more local in character and include: e. stolley’s bezirdge zur kenniniss der cephalopoden der norddeutschen unteren kreide (1911-2), d. n. sokolov’s zur am- montien fauna des petschoraschen jura (russian) (1912), h. yabe and s. shimizu’s notes on some cretaceous ammonites from japan and california (1921), and numerous papers by a. de grossouvre, w. kilian and e. haug for france and the mediterranean region. the silicious sponges which are so well represented in'the mesozoic have received the most careful microscopic study by the students and followers of zittel. pioneer work was done in england by the fate george jennings hinde, a monograph of the british fossil sponges (1887-1912), and this work was followed in germany by a. schrammen’s kieselspongien der oberen kreide von nordwest- denischland (1910) and r. kolb’s die kieselspongien des schwdbischen wetssen jura (1911). special works on other groups are: a mono- graph of the cretaceous lamellibranchia of england (1899-1912) by henry woods, synopsis des spirobranches (brachiopodes) juras- siques celto-souabes (1915-9) by the swiss palaeontologist louis rollier, and clarke and twitchell’s the afesosoic and cenezote 16 echinodermata of the united states (1915). among the major con- tributions to mesozoic stratigraphy and entire faunas or floras may be mentioned: victor uhlig’s the fauna of the spiti shales (1903), carl renz’s die mesosoischen faunen griechenlands (1911), g. r. wieland'’s american fossil cycads (1906-16), and e. w. berry's the upper cretaceous floras of the world (1916). for the tertiary life especial reference should be made to the con- tributions on different groups made by thomas wayland vaughan (corals), e. w. berry (plants), j. a. cushman (foraminifera), r. t. jackson (echinoderms), mary rathbun (crustaceans), a. pilsbry (cirripedia), and others in contributions to the geology and palaeon- tology of the canal zone, panama, and geologically related areas in central america and the west indies (1919). the bryozoa have been carefully described and beautifully illustrated by ferdinand canu and ray s. bassler, north american early tertiary bryozoa (1920), while the foraminifera have been described in equal detail by joseph a. cushman in numerous contributions, and by ii. yabe (1921) and h. douville (1911). for other groups we may note: j. lambert’s description des echinides des terrains neogenes du bassin du rhene (rg11-6), f. w. harmer’s the pliocene mollusca (1914-20), and papers by w. h. dall on the mollusca. a general resume of the pleistocene vertebrate and invertebrate life is embodied in f. c. baker’s the life of the pleistocene or glacial period (1920). stimulat- ing general reviews of the progress of invertebrate palacontology are the presidential addresses by f. a. bather, fossils and life, british association (1920), by ruedemann, the palaeontology of arrested evolution (1916), and by clarke, the philosophy of geology and the order of the state (1917). | | progress in vertebrate palaeontology personnel: advent of the fourth gencration—the principal feature of the period has been the advent of a new generation of explorers and workers in vertebrate palaeontology who, in a sense, constitute a fourth or ‘¢ 2oth century ” group. beginning with cuvier (1769-1832) as founder of the science and leader of the first group, the second group embraced the british anato- mists richard owen (1894-92) and thomas henry huxley (1825-95), the french leader albert gaudry (1827-1908), the swiss palaeontologist ludwig riitimeyer (1825-095), and the three great americans, namely, joseph leidy (1823-91), ed- ward drinker cope (1840-97), and othniel c. marsh (1831-99). these men marshalled the first positive proofs of vertebrate evolution in europe and america; they worked more or less independently as pioneers and laid the entire foundation of the modern classification of the vertebrata. the leader of the third group was the russian, waldemar kovalevsky (1842-83), who instituted intensive investigation of mechanical adaptation in relation to natural selection. of the same period are a. smith woodward (b. 1864) and c. w. andrews (b. 1866) in england, marcellin boule (b. 1861) and charles deperet (b. 1854) in france, louis dollo (b. 1857) in belgium, max schlosser in germany, giovanni capellini (b. 1833) in italy, and in america william b. scott (b. 1858) and henry fairfield osborn (b. 1857). this group includes also samuel wendell williston (1852-1918), and ramsay h. tra- quiir (1840-1912). scott treated chiefly mammals, williston chiefly reptiles and amphibians, while osborn treated both mimmals and reptiles. the principal accomplishment of this third school has been (1) to conduct world-wide exploration, (2) to correct, co-ordinate and firmly establish the great classifica- tions proposed by the second school and (3) to fill out the details and principles of phylogeny or lines of reptilian, avian and mam- malian descent. the leading explorer of this period was john bell hatcher (1861-1994), who brought together a large part of the materials for two great monographs of the united states geological survey, osborn’s titanotheres and the hatcher-lull ceratopsia; he also made the wonderful collection of south ameri- can fossils which forms the basis of scott’s monumental memoirs of the princeton university expeditions to patagonia during the years 1896-9. osborn’s monograph the titanotheres (an eocene-oligocene family of mammals), twenty-one years in preparation, has been completed but not published; others of his memoirs are the equidae of the oligocene, miocene and plio- cene of north america (1918) and camarasaurus, amphiceclias and other sauropods of cope (1921). williston’s monographs are chicily on the cretaceous mosasaurs and the archaic reptilia of the perm-trias, to which he made most notable contributions. of this period were florentino ameghino (1854-1911), the dis- palaeontology tinguished vertebrate pafaeontologist of argentina and tberhard fraas (1862~1915) of stuttgart. oliver p. hay (b. 1846) is also of this group, author of the monograph of the fossil turtles of north america (1908) and the invaluable bibliography and cata- logue of the fossil vertebrata of north america (1902). to the fourth group of vertebrate palacontologists belongs the school trained by professor osborn in the american museum of natural history, of which the senior is william diller matthew (b. 1871), walter granger (b. 1872), barnum brown (b. 18732), william k. gregory (b. 1876), richard s. lull (b. 1867) of yale university, lawrence m. lambe (1863-19109), late of the cana- dian survey, and c. forster-cooper, cambridge university. the chief intensive work of matthew and granger has been on the american eocene mammalian faunas and in aiding osborn to establish 16 eocene-oligocene life zones of north america very closcly co-ordinated with corresponding life zones of western europe. brown’s explorations have added greatly to our knowl- edge of cretaceous dinosaurs. of the same group are the pupils of williston, of whom the leader is ermine c. case (b. 1871), who has contributed treatises on permian life. at the same time john c. merriam (b. 1869) has led explorations on the pacific coast of america and inspired a school of younger workers both in vertebrate and invertebrate palaeontology. in great britain d. m. s. watson (b. 1886) has taken up the work of owen and huxley in primary groups of fishes, amphibians and reptiles; in austria othenio abel, a pupil of dollo, is the great exponent of vertebrate evolution; in germany friedrich von huene and ferdinand broili are leaders in sauropsidan palacon- tology, other notable palaeontologists of recent years being franz drevermann, ernst stremer (b. 1871) and otto jackel (b. 1863). at upsala in sweden carl wiman has inspired a remarkably progressive group of workers, while in switzerland hans georg stehlin (b. 1870) has continued in the great field of riitimeyer. for the principal contributions by palaeontologists of the third and fourth groups above described, the reader is referred to the memoirs and bulletins of the american museum of natural history, of the university of california, of the carnegie institution of washington, to the contributions from the palae- ontological laboratory (peabody museum) of yale university, to the memoirs and catalogues of the british museum (natural history), to the palaeontographica and to the memoirs of the societe paleontologique suisse. it is upon the researches of these workers in field and laboratory that the great synthetic volumes referred to earlier are chiefly founded, and that the following generalisations of modern vertebrate palaeontology are chiefly due. origins of the great vertebrate stock and its branches origin of chordates—no discovery has thus far lessened the gap between the modern protochordates (a mphioxus, tunicates, etc.) and any of the known phyla of invertebrates. some of the cephalaspid ostracoderms have been cited by patten as favouring the view that the chordates have been derived from certain arthropods, but such resemblances are ascribed to convergence by dollo and many others. the earliest ostracoderm remnant actually known is a dermal plate of a genus named astraspis from the upper ordovician near canyon city, colo.; this rep- resents a new family astraspidae allied to the psammosteidae of the silurian and devonian (c. r. eastman, 1917). these chordates, heavily shielded and hence known as ostracoderms, were dominant in the upper silurian, radiating into six families and many genera, abundant in the lower devonian, diminishing in the middle devonian and becoming extinct in the upper devonian. origin of fishes.—yhe earliest fish remnant actually known is the fin-spined onchius from the upper silurian of scotland, which appears to represent the group of acanthodian sharks, covered with fine quadrate scales like those of ganoids and with a skull structure distinctly elasmobranch. the elasmobranchs (shark and ray types) are still the oldest known gnathostomes or true _jaw-bearing vertebrates, constituting (a) one of the four primary palaeontology plate i. oa ~ ‘ rp ‘ ~~. ae __ middle-cambrian invertebrate fossils, showing diversity of animal life and similarity to recent forms. (u.s. nat’nl museum, permission of smithsonian inst.) fic. 1. choia carteri walcott, a silicious sponge. fi1g. 2. olfoia prolifica walcott, a gephyrean annelid. fic. 3. ottota minor walcott, another gephyrean annelid. fic. 4. avsheata pedunculata walcott, a tomopteris-like annelid. fic. 5. canadia spinosa walcott, a polychaete annelid. fic. 6. amitskwia sagittiformis walcott, a chaetognath. fic. 7. waptia feldensis walcott, a mvysis-like crustacean. fic. 8. opabinia regalis walcott, a branchipus-like crustacean. fic. 9. another speci- men of opabinia regalis walcott. fic. 10. burgessia bella walcott, an apus-like crustacean. fic. 11. afarrella splendens walcott,a simple trilobite. fic. 12. naraoia compacia walcott, a curious crustacean. peate il. palaeontology fea 2. fig. 2a. fic. 5. fic. 6. _ ts 2. notable vertebrate fossils, complete remains of which have been recently dis- fic. 3.—diairyma, a gigantic mollusc-eating bird, from the lower eocene of covered. (by permission of the president of the american museum of natural wyoming. history.) fic. 4.—moropus, an okapi-like herbivore, from the lower miocene of dakota, i'1g. 1.—deinodon or gorgosaurus, a mid-cretaccous carnivorous dinosaur from related to the chalicotheres of europe and asia. alberta, canada, mounted in running position. fic. 5.—pliohippus, direct one-toed ancestor of the modern horse, from the f1g. 2, 2a.—siruihiomimus, the ‘‘ostrich mimic,’’ a mid-cretaceous browsing lower pliocene of nebraska. dinosaur, from alberta, canada. fig. 2 shows the complete skeleton in rigor mor- fic. 6.—trilophodon, direct descendant of mastodon angustidens of europe tis, fig. 2a the same skelcton partly restored. and north africa, lower pliocene of texas. all the figures are on the same scale. palaeontology gnathostome groups, 7.e., jawed groups, the others being (/) the fringe-finned ganoids (crossopterygii), (c)} the ray-finned ganoids and teleosts collectively known as actinopterygii and (d) the lungfishes (dipnoi). the fossil ancestors of the fringe- finned ganoids have not yet been discovered; so these animals are theoretically traced to unknown cartilaginous fishes of silu- rian times. the oldest crossopterygian actually known is the osteolepis macrolepidotus of the middle old red sandstone of scotland. there were two principal periods of adaptive radia- tion among the crossopterygii, the first in middle and upper devonian times, the second in mesozoic times which produced the family coelacanthidae, from which may have sprung the existing fishes polypterus and calamoichthys as degenerate off- shoots. from the earlier devonian radiation oi the crossoptery- gians is traced the theoretic origin of the dipnoi or lungfishes, on the one hand, and of the oldest known amphibians on the other. the devonian crossopterygian skull and fins appear to be “ archetypal ” to the lungfish type on the one hand, and to the amphibian type on the other. cope’s genius in separating the actinopterygii is sustained, for there is as yet no fossil evi- dence of the connection of this group with the crossopterygil, other than the supposed community of origin in silurian times. here the reader should consult the writings of smith woodward, joseph f. whiteaves, bashford dean, william k. gregory and the synthetic reviews of osborn (1918) and lull (1917). origin of amphibians and first tetrapods.—in this epoch- making transition from the fringe-finned fish type to the tetra- podal amphibian and terrestrial type, the prophecies of huxley, cope and baur and other great anatomists of the second and third groups of palaeontologists appear to be fulfilled. the silurian period marked the patting of the ways among the great primary groups of fishes and the first steps towards the frame of the terrestrial amphibians. not until the upper devonian of pennsylvania do we find a footprint (thinopus antiguas marsh), which may be referred to an amphibian tetrapod. the first known actual skeletons occurred in the coal measures (upper carboniferous) of europe and america and represented four widely radiating groups. the structural gap separating the eatliest tetrapod amphibians and fishes is perhaps the greatest known in the whole range of vertebrate evolution, but all modern authorities agree that the amphibians were probably derived from a silurian or early devonian type of fringe-finned fish. even as far back as the upper carboniferous and even in the lower carboniferous the amphibia were adaptively radiating into several orders and numerous families comprising highly spe- cialised forms. during the carboniferous we find numerous independent phyla of eel-like or burrowing, and of compressed, swimming, as well as of large-bodied, predatory forms. the latter culminate in the gigantic labyrinthodonts of the triassic. the exact connection of any of these forms with the modern amphibia (urodeles and anura) is doubtful. the anura first appear in the jurassic, and at the present time they retain many characters reminiscent of such palacozoic amphibia as the branchiosaurs and the eryeps group. the urodeles are first known in the genus it yleeobatrachus of the lower cretaceous of europe. both groups, especially the anura, appear to have gone through a wide adaptive radiation during the tertiary. the connection of the modern caecilians with the ancient types 15 obscure. the reader is referred especially to the contributions of williston, case, watson, gregory, broili and the synthetic reviews of osborn (1918) and lull (1917). origin of reptiles—the oldest-known reptiles, solid-headed cotylosauria of cope, are regarded as amphibians which had eliminated the aquatic stages in development, the oldest reptile actually known being the genus feosauravus from the coal measures of ohio. in other words, the cotylosaur reptiles are traceable to solid-headed stegocephalian amphibians, which, in turn, are traceable to solid-headed unknown crossopterygians of silurian times. the oldest and most primitive reptiles (cefy- losauria) occurring in the upper carboniferous and permian, are thus structurally very close to certain conlemporary stegoce- phalian amphibians. the first great adaptive radiation of the 17 reptiles into the two grand divisions, the solid-headed (cofy- losauria) and the temporal-arched (pelycosauria), began in the upper carboniferous and still more widely diverged in permian times. as early as the permian, occurs a mammalian-like series of feptiles which exhibits an extensive adaptive radiation and gives off one branch, the cy#odontia, which, in turn, survives into triassic times and clearly approaches the mammalian grade of organisation. from the primary temporal-arched also appear the forerunners of the mesozoic reptiles, the plesiosaurs, ichthyo- saurs, dinosaurs and plerosaurs, widely separated from each other in the triassic and thus having their branches deep down in the permian and carboniferous, each grand division giving rise to an adaptive radiation of its own. these have been traced in detail by such authorities as andrews, dollo, abel, von huene, williston and osborn. here the reader is referred to the writings of williston, hatcher, osborn, merriam, lambe, lull and especially during the past decade to those of charles w. gilmore of the united states national museum, washington and of dr. robert broom of south africa, as well as to the synthetic reviews by osborn (1918) and lull (1917). the two greatest achievements of the decade are the clearing up of the relationships of the primitive south african terrestrial reptilia of the perm-trias, beginning with the solid-headed types (pareiasaurs) and ending in their: highest expression, the mammal-like types known as cynodonts and theriodonts. ‘the field explorations of robert broom and the profound compar- ative researches of i). m.s. watson and of william k. gregory have given us a clear comprehension of the habits and relation- ships of this first terrestrial radiation group. williston and case have covered the same great period in america. origin of birds —yalacontologists still agree in endorsing huxley’s opinion that birds are “ glorified reptiles.” the origin of birds, according to recent reviewers such as osborn and gregory, brings us close to the two-temporal-arched (1.e., diap- sida) reptiles, namely, to the stem which also gave off the dino- saurs, the pterosaurs and the smaller parasuchians (lu parkeria). fossil bird remains are extremely rare. the earliest bird known is the famous -lrchaeopteryx of the jurassic of solnhofen, ger- many. this is largely a bird, excepting in the tail, the simplicity of the feather arrangement and the possession of teeth. accord- ing to the four-winged hypothesis of origin advocated by beebe, we should some day discover a bird with parachute-like action in both fore and hind limbs. recent contributions of note on this subject are those of gerhard heilmann (1913) and of william beebe (rors) and the synthetic reviews by osborn (1918) and lull (ror7). origin of mammals.—evidence has been accumulating rapidly in favour of the theory that the origin of the mammals should be traced to the more progressive terrestrial mammal-like reptiles (the cynodontia) of the permian and triassic of south africa and europe, as described in the studies of broom, watson, haughion, osborn and gregory. structurally related to these cynodonts are the so-called protodonts of osborn, e.g., droma- therium and aficroconodon of the triassic of north carolina. but of equal antiquity are the multituberculates, e.g., plagiaulax and aficrolesies, widely spread over europe and north america. no substantial additions have been made during the decade to our knowledge of this vague period; readers are referred to the reviews by osborn (1918) and lull (1917), also to the recent works of gregory, the orders of mammals (1910) and the origin and evolution of the human dentition (1921). origin of primates and of man—combined palaeontological and anatomical evidence indicates that the source of the primates is to be looked for among tree-living insecttvorous mammals more or less closely similar to the modern tree shrews (tupatidae) of africa. this view advanced with ability by gregory is in general accord with the opinion that during the phase of arboreal life many of the psychic and anatomical characters of the pri- mates were acquired. it was not until the lower eocene of north america and of europe that there appeared undisputect primates of lemuroid affinity, e.g., notharctids and tarsioids in 18 america, adapids and tarsioids in europe. at this time the zoological relation of the two continents was close and it would appear that while the primitive horses were acquiring their cursorial characters on the ground, these primitive lemuroids were acquiring their distinctive characteristics in the trees. ° actual ancestors of the existing tarsins of madagascar have been found in france (psezdoloris). the attempt of ameghino to trace the higher primates to south american types, e.g., f1o- munculus, appearing in the lower miocene of patagonia, is not supported, because these animals from the first are the true broad-nosed, 7.e., platyrrhine, type still characteristic of south america. the old world division of the catarrhines or narrow- nosed true primates has been traced to the parapithecus, de- scribed by max schlosser from the lower oligocene of egypt. propliopithecus is possibly ancestral to the true anthropoid apes and thus possibly related to the ancestors of man himself. dar- win’s broad conclusion that man was derived from “‘ some ancient member of the anthropomorphous subgroup of old world pri- mates ”’ is fully sustained by anatomical evidence, but the precise lines of descent are still in dispute. some hold that the human line came from middle tertiary anthropoid apes allied to dryo- pithecus of france and sivapithecus of india, while others (in- cluding the present writer) regard the homizidae as a widely distinct family separated especially by its upright walking gait, by the non-divergence of the great toe, and by the retention of its tool-making thumb. a series of masterly reviews of this whole question has appeared in the american museum publica- tions from gregory, whose recent memoir ox the structure and relations of notharctus, an american eocene primate (1920) sums up our present knowledge of this whole subject. (see also evolution.) the dinosaur fauna of alberta, canada.—the greatest new achievement in exploration is the revelation of the dinosaur fauna of alberta in the fossil beds extending along the red deer river, which were first made known to science by explorers of the canadian geological survey in 1897, 1898, 1901. the first general review of this wonderful fauna was that of osborn and lambe, ox vertebrata of the mid-cretaceous of the north west territory (1902), based chicfly on the collections in the ottawa museum. the american museum explorations under barnum brown, which extended over 1o years, have resulted in the dis- covery of the entire fauna of the middle portion of upper cre- taceous time, a complete revelation especially of the dinosaur world as it approached the height of its adaptive radiation into herbivorous and carnivorous, armoured and defenceless, swilft- moving and slow-moving types, which severally imitate more or less fully the long subsequent adaptive radiation of the mammals. in 1914 the canadians renewed exploration, so that at present the ottawa and toronto museums have rich collections, part of which has been described by the late lawrence m. lambe, while osborn, barnum brown and w. a. parks have also made known a part of this wonderful fauna. two of the greatest extremes of adaptation, namely, deinodon or gorgosaurus and struthiomimus, are figured in the accompanying plate ii. in the same plate appear some of the outstanding american dis- coveries of the decade. new discoveries among fossil vertebrates fossil fishes.—dr. a. smith woodward’s fossil fishes of the english wealden and purbeck (1915-8) is a beautifully illustrated memoir of the most thorough, systematic type, well sustaining the traditions set by traquair and by the author himself in earlier works. the period dealt with affords an interesting cross- section of the stream of piscine evolution at a time when many of the old mesozoic ganoids were dying out and the teleost fishes were beginning their remarkable expansion. other important systematic memoirs are those by stolley on the ganoids of the german muschelkalk (1920) and by stensie (1921) on triassic fishes from spitsbergen. the latter memoirs contain a wealth of material of great morphological interest concerning the early stages in the evolution of the skull of the fringe-finned and ray- finned ganoid fishes; this discussion also throws light on the palaeontology origin of certain elements in the skull of higher vertebrates. in this connection should be mentioned the brief but highly impor- tant paper on lusthenopteron by w. l. bryant (1919). this fringe-finned ganoid is of particular interest because the construc- tion of its skull and paired limbs approaches the type which may be expected in the piscine ancestors of the land-living vertebrates. the arrangement of the elements on the under side of the skull of this fish raises morphological questions of wide general interest. papers by watson and day (1916) and by gregory (1915, 1920) deal with the ancestral relations of these fringe-finned ganoids with the land-living vertebrates (tetrapods). the swarming fauna of devorian arthrodires, ptyctodonts, cladodonts and other archaic fossil fishes from the vicinity of buffalo, n.y., is ably described by bryant and hussakof in their catalog cf the fossil fishes in the museum of the buffalo society of natural sciences (1918). a serious difficulty ercoun- tered by all students of recent and fossil fishes is the gettirg in contact with the vast and scattered literature of the subject. the great bibliography cf fishes by bashford dean and his associates eastman and e. w. gudger (1917) will undoubtedly stimulate research in this field. fossil amphibians.—the outstanding publications in this field are the coal measures amphibia of north america, by r. l. moodie (1916) and a memoir on the structure, evolution and origin of the amphibia, by d. m. s. watson (1919). moodie’s memoir is a valuable description and compilation of the exten- sive and varied fauna of swamp-living amphibians of the ameri- can coal measures. watson’s memoir is a brilliant and highly original contribution to the classification and phylogeny of the labyrinthodonts. much detailed work on fossil amphibians appears in papers by von huene, broom, williston, van eiosp cm haughton and others. stem reptiles —tin the field of the oldest reptiles, hess of the carboniferous and permian, perhaps the most important con- tributions are those by s. w. williston and d. m. s. watson. the former, in his paper on the phylogeny and classification ef the reptiles (1917), traces the rise of the common amrhibian- reptilian stock through the ‘‘ protopoda,” which are so far known only from certain footprints of upper devonian age. according to williston, who built on osborn’s system of 1903-4, the primi- tive reptilian stock early divided into the following series:— anapsida (cotylosauria and their specialised descendants, the modern tortoises and turtles). synapsidz (vheromorpha or pelycosaurs, etc.; therapsida, or sn as -like reptiles, the latter giving rise to the mammals; plesio- saurs diapsida (reptiles with two temporal arches, such as crocodiles, dinosaurs, rhynchocephalians; this stock gave rise to birds). parapsida (including the proganosaurs, ichthyosaurs, lizards, mosasaurs, snakes). watson (1917), in his sketch classification of the pre-jurassic tectrapod vertebrates, assigns a high value in classification to the characters of the brain case. a general and conservative classifi- cation of the early reptiles is given by w. k. gregory (1920). the most primitive known reptile, seymourta, from the permo- carboniferous of texas, almost bridges the gap between the amphibia and the reptilia. watson (1919) gives a morpho- logical description of this reptile, accompanied by valuable figures and reconstructions of the skull and skeleton. the habits and environments of the teeming reptilian and amphibian faunas of the permo-carboniferous of north america are intensively considered in a memoir by e. c. case (1919), which also deals with the stratigraphy, climatology and palaeo- geography of the late palaeozoic. mammal-like reptiles —tin no other field of fossil reptiles has the progress of discovery been more satisfactory than in that of the mammal-like reptiles of south africa, as set forth in numer- ous papers, especially by watson (1913-4), haughton (1918), broom (1913-4), van hoepen and others. the relationships of these animals with other reptiles and with the mammals have been reviewed by w. k. gregory (1920-1). marine reptiles —these have always been of great interest on account of their secondary adaptations to aquatic life which have palaeontology been ably discussed by abel (1912, 1919). one of the outstanding contributions of new material in this field is the british museum catalogue of marine reptiles of the oxford clay, by c. w. an- drews (1910-3). the origin and relationships of the plesiosaurs and their allies are treated by von euene (1921). dinosaurs.—the triassic dinosaurs of eurepe are of particular interest because some of them tend to connect the very diverse carnivorous and herbivorous saurischian dinosaurs of later ages. here the leading author is f. yon huene, in a long scries of papers and memoirs. plateosaurus, perhaps the most primitive of these reptiles, has been fully described both by von ifuene and by jaekel (1913-6). primitive dinosaurs from the summit of the karroo series in south africa (gryponyx, massospondylus, etc.) ar2 d2scribed by broom and haughton. during the long ages of the jurassic the gizantic sauropodous dinosaurs attained thcir maximum in size and specialisation. the leading feature in this ficl 1 is the description of the strange and monstrous dinosaurs of the tendaguru fauna of east africa in the collections of the berlin museum, by janeasch (1914). one of the most remark- able of the north american sauropods is the genus camarasaurus, which has been intensively described by osborn and mook (1921). barosaurus, a gigantic relative of diplodecus, with a tremendously heavy neck, has been described by r. s. lull (1919). tyrannosaurus, the greatest carnivorous reptile of all time, and struthiomimus, a contemporancous ostrich-like dino- saur, have been described by osborn (1912-9). the highly varicd and grotesque armoured dinosaurs, namely, the ceratopsia ard related groups, have been the subject of numerous papers by gilmore, brown, lambe and others. pterosaurs.—the pterosaurs, or flying reptiles, have continued to excite the interest of students of flight, such as abel (1912) watson and hankin (1914), arthaber (1921). the greatest flying reptile, pteranodon, is the subject of a memoir by eaton (1910) of yale university. chelonians.—an important memoir by o. jaekel (1913-6) escribes the skull, skeleton, carapace and plastron of triasso- chelys dux from the upper triassic of germany. although widely differentiated from all other orders this reptile was the most primitive of all known chelonians. of even greater interest is the eunotosaurus from the permian of south africa, which watson (1914) describes as a veritable “‘ archichelone.”’ fossil birds.—diatryma, a gigantic ground bird from the lower eocene of wyoming, has been described by w. d. mat- thew and w. granger (1917) from a nearly complete skeleton, which is a most rare and valuable fossil. this bird, which has no near relatives, was about seven feet high and of massive proportions, with an enormous head and great compressed beak. the wings were vestigial. this high degree of specialisation at such an early epoch indicates that the modernised groups of birds were differentiated during the latter part of the age of reptiles. monographs on special groups of tertiary mammals.—the fossil mammals of the basal and lower eocene of the western united states are represented in the american museum of natural history by collections numbering many thousands of specimens which are being described jointly by matthew and granger (1915). besides describing many new or little known forms these authors also deal with the relationships and mor- phology of the various groups of early placental mammals. in the paper dealing with the edentates and their relatives, the palaeanodonts,’”’ matthew (1918) advances the view that the modern pholidota (pangolins) are an offshoot of the primitive ‘‘ palaeanodonts ” of the lower eocene. other papers of the same series cover the creodonts, insectivores and primates. several mid-tertiary mammalian groups, such as chali- cotheres, entelodonts and the diceratheres, have been revised in the publications of the carnegie museum, pittsburgh, by w. j. holland and by o. a. peterson (see mongolia, palae- ontologic discoveries in). (h. f. 0.) some new developments ‘in recent years two aspects of palaeontological work have been actively pursued. the explorations carried out in north- 19 eastern asia by the american museum, supplemented by those conducted jointly by the chinese geological survey and the university of uppsala(sweden), have added enormously to our knowledge of the history of the geographical distribution both of mammals and dinosaurs, and will when carried to their com- pletion leave africa as the least known land which can have played an important part in the evolution of placental mammals. an onpscure region in the life of north america is being rapidly cleared up by the research of matthew on the upper miocene and pliocene faunas. in europe work by stehlin and others is gradually giving us an accurate knowledge of the structure and relationships of the older tertiary mammals, whilst those of the pleistocene are at last receiving adequate treatment. the long known fossils of the sivalik hills in india have been assigned to their true horizons by g. e. pilgrim, whose collections from rocks of earlier date than those found by former workers have added many most interesting anthropoid apes to our knowledge, and will much modify our ideas of the phylogeny of some groups of mammals. from deposits in baluchistan of upper oligocene ace pilcrim and foster cooper have made great collections mainly of anthrocotheres and rhinoceroses, the latter worker having obtained limbs and vertebrae of an extraordinary rhi- noceros baluchitherium. subsequently borissiak obtained from turgai, turkestan, a fragmentary skull, many vertebrae and r'bs and the limbs of a closely similar or identical animal, which hrs now been mounted in leningrad. finally, the american museum obtained a skull of the same type from mongolia. these materials allow of a reconstruction of the complete skele- ton. the animal so obtained is a gigantic rhinoceros, with a skull five feet in length, hornless and very long and narrow, set 01 an enormous flexible neck. the immense body is carried on pillar-like legs, the tridactyl hands and feet being extraordinarily elongated, so that the creature walked entirely on its toes lke a horse. the height at the withers is estimated at 13 ft., con- siderably more than that of any living elephant, and more than twice that of the tallest other rhinoceros known. pilgrim has recently described a fragmentary but most impor- tant mammal fauna of upper eocene age from burma remark- able in that it contains teeth of the first titanotheres found in asia, animals whose occurrence here is explained by the many forms found still more recently in mongolia. in africa little has been done, but very fragmentary remairs of miocene mammals found near victoria nyanza have been described by andrews, and others from german south west africa by stremer. dietrich and andrews have described small late pliocene faunas from the lakes region of central africa. finally, in his last paper, c. w. andrews recorded the occurrer.ce of a chalicothere in the pleistocene fauna of kenya. amongst reptiles the most important discoveries of new mate- rials of which accounts have been published are those of the german expeditions to tendaguru, which have obtained splen- did materials of sauropodous dinosaurs and of a small stegosaur; of the american museum in mongolia (q.v.) and of stremer in the cretaceous of the libyan desert. stremer has described two most remarkable crocodiles, one with a very small, short- snouted and deep skull, the other with an enormously elongated flat head, presenting some resemblance superficially to a peli- can’s bill. thus the work of exploration has been most actively pursued, but results of no less importance have come from the examination by modern technical methods of old materials. this work has in the main been directed to the solution, often by a co-ordination of palaeontological and embryological researches, of certain problems of morphology. it is work ofa new type initiated by dr. r. broom. prof. j. kiaer of christiania has published a most detailed description of three genera of anapsida (q.2z.) from the down- tonian rocks of norway. the animals of this group, formerly known almost entirely from material from the rocks of the same age in the south of scotland, prove to possess a heterocercal tail of unique type in which the muscular end of the body passes down- ward into the lower caudal lobe, instead of, as in all fishes, into the upper... they have a pair of large eyes, between which, on 20 the dorsal surface of the head, is a single median nostril, placed immediately in front of a foramen for a pineal eye. the whole arrangement is remarkably like that which exists in the lam- prey. the mouth, however, appears to be arranged for biting, and in no way recalls that of pteromyzon. kiaer shows that the external branchial openings are small pores and that they may vary in number from seven to 13, as in hagfish. dr. stensid, of stockholm, has recently shown that the lateral line system on the body armour of heterostraci does not conform to that found in qll fish, but is comparable with that of cyclostomes and appears to be inclined to group those forms, which have paired nostrils, with the anapsida and cyclo- stomes, the whole forming, with the osteostraci, a group of bony vertebrates more primitive in their structure than the true fishes. dr. stensid has also revolutionised our knowledge of the structure and understanding of the relationships of the long- known arthrodeires. he shows that macropetalichthys, a form known for some 60 years, had a fully ossified braincase so thick and well preserved that he has been able to determine not only the shape of the brain cavity but also the exact distribution of some of the cranial nerves and blood vessels. there is no doubt that in all points which can be determined the form agrees with the elasmobranchs, and differs from all bony fish. the possi- bility is opened that the living cartilaginous fish are the descend- ants of bony ancestors. sir arthur smith woodward has been able to show that another arthrodcire deinichthys had ossifica- tions associated with the palatoquadrate cartilage. _ among bony fish proper the most important work has been the description by bryant, stensie and watson of the details of the structure of the braincase, dermal skull and palate of certain osteolepids and of the coelacanths which prove to be their direct descendants. the most striking feature of these fish is the presence in them of a long unossified region between the basisphenoid and the basioccipital and the consequent separation of the well ossified braincase into two distinct halves. but of more general interest is the occurrence in all osteolepids and in the oldest known coelacanth, of an olfactory organ of am- phibian type, opening to the surface of the skull by an anterior and to the palate by a posterior nostril. the structure of several carboniferous dipnoi has been described by watson and gill. the palaeoniscid fish, which are the oldest representatives of the actinopterygii, have become much better known, the struc- ture of the braincase, palate and hyobranchial apparatus having been described by watson and stensie in carboniferous and trias- sic forms. the braincases prove to be typically actinopterygian, possessing large eye muscle and aortic canals. | stensied has given a complete account of the osteology of the head in the remarkably elongated saurichthids, a mainly triassic group of fish, which prove, as a. s. woodward long ago sug- gested, to be direct and relatively little advanced derivatives of the palaeoniscids. henning has described as chondrosteus hindenburgi, a magnificent sturgeon some 12 ft. in length from the upper lias of wiirttemberg. watson has described the structure of the carboniferous labyrinthodonts, all of which belong to the grade embolomeri. in the structure of their skulls these animals prove to be directly comparable with osteolepid fish on the one hand and with the reptile seymouria on the other, whilst they include the ancestors of the later labyrintho- donts, the course of whose evolution as determined by watson has been confirmed by the work of haughton. | amongst reptiles the most interesting work of a morphological type has been concerned with the evolution of the skeleton of the limbs considered as one part of a machine the remainder of which consists of the muscles. watson, w. k. gregory and his students and romer have reconstructed from the indication of muscle insertions on fossil bones the complete limb musculation of several permian and triassic reptiles, and shown that these exhibit a steady improvement of mechanical efficiency as the evolutionary series are traced upward. (d. m.s. w,) - brstiocrapuy.—fossil reptiles: w. janensch, archiv. fiir bion- tologie, vol. 3 (1914); e. stremer, abhandl. der kel. akad. d. wiss. von miinchen, vol. 27 (1914). ostracoderms: j. kiaer, videnskaps- palamas—palestine akad. skrifter, math.- nat. klasse (1924). arthrodura: e. a. stensie, field museum, chicago, geological publ. (1925). bony fish: e. a. stensid, svenska vetenskapsakad. hand. (1925); d. m. s. watson, proc. zodl, soc. (1926). amphibia: d. m. s. watson, phil. trans. roy. soc. (1926). chinese fossil mammals: palaeontologica sinica, series c (1910, etc.). american miocene: w. d. matthews, bull. amer, mus, nat. iist., vol. 50 (1924). indian fossil mammals: g. e. pilgrim, records india geological survey (1914-25); c. foster cooper, palaeontologica indica (1924). baluchitherium: bouniak, mem, acad. sct., leningrad (1923); c. f. cooper, phil. trans. roy. soc. (1923-4); h. f. osborn, natural history (1923); c. w. andrews, quart, jour, geol. soc. (1919). limb musculature: d. m.s. watson, jour, of anatomy, vol. 7 (1917); w. ii. gregory, c. l. camp, g. k. noble and a. s. ronier, bull. amer. mus, nat. hist. (1918-25). palamas, kostes (18s9- —_-), greek poet, was born at patras in 1859. in 1875 he went to athens to study law and there came under the influence of the “ popular,” as opposed to the “ purist ’’ school of greek, and, after several years of jour- nalism, published in 1886 his first poetical work, the songs of my country, followed in 1889 by the hymn to athena. appointed in 1897 secretary to the university of athens, he was able to de- vote all his spare energies to poetry, while he had already issued a prose essay on krystallis (1894), in which he contrasted philosophic with descriptive poets. after the publication of tambs and anapaests and the grave (1898), a series of elegies on his son’s death, he became the recognised chief of the “ popular ”’ party in literature, whose organ in the press was the review, woumas. at that period the “ language question ”’ penetrated even politics, leading to the “ gospel riots ”’ of 1901 and the fall of the cabinet over the translation of the oresteia in 1903. palamas, who described himself in the twelve lays of the gipsy as “the poet of my age and race,” was considered by his ad- mirers to be the successcr of solomos, while some critics have found in him the obscurity of browning. later he produced the poem on byron, recited at the byron centenary at athens in 1924, and five syllables and the pathetic whispers (1925). see poems by kostes palamds, selected and rendered into english by th. ph. stephanides and g. c. katsimbalis (1925). paleologue, maurice georges (18s0- _—+),_ french diplomat and writer, was born in paris jan. 13 1859. he entered the diplomatic service at an early age and went successively to tangier, rome, germany, the east, korea and bulgaria. he became in 1909 deputy-director and in 1g11 director of affairs’ in the foreign office. shortly before the outbreak of the world war he was appointed ambassador to st. petersburg (lenin-_ grad) and retained this post until the bolshevist revolution towards the end of 1917. he successfully exerted great efforts to consolidate the franco-russian alliance and to ensure the most effective military action on the part of russia during the period of hostilities. in 1920 he was for a few months secretary- general of the ministry of foreign affairs and afterwards ten- dered his resignation. m. paleologue published in 1921~2, under the title of la russie des tsars pendant la grande guerre, some interesting records of his diplomatic experiences in st. peters- burg. among his other publications are historical works; literary criticisms, notably on vauvenargues and alfred de vigny; ac- counts of his impressions of china and italy and several novels. recent works include: le roman tragique de l’empereur alex- andre if, (1923); taileyrand metternich chateaubriand (1924); an ambassador’s memoirs (tr. by f. a. holt, 1923-5). , palestine (see 20.600), a territory administered by the brit- ish govt. under a mandate from the league of nations which came officially into operation on sept. 29 1923. bounded on the north by the french sphere of syria, on the west by the mediterranean, and on the south by egyptian and hejaz territory. on the east is transjordan (g.v.) which is included in the mandate. the area of palestine, excluding transjordan, is something over 9,000 sq. m. of which about half is cultivable. the population at the outbreak of war in 1914 was estimated at 689,281 (534,- 615 moslems, 70,000 christians, 84,666 jews). this was con- siderably diminished by war, famine, disease and exile. on dec. 31 1925 the parallel figures exclusive of the nomadic tribes were 762,316 (522,137 moslems, 74,624 christians, 157,188 jews, 8,367 others). since the opening of immigration with the pro- palestine mulgation of the immigration ordinance (1920) 78,567 immi- grants (528 moslems, 1,863 christians 76,176 jews) have entered palestine. i. political history under ottoman rule.—palestine under the ottoman govt. was an integral portion of syria, although the sanjaq of jeru- salem, owing to its peculiar problems and importance, was gov- erned by a mutasarref referring directly to constantinople. owing to the economic stagnation and financial strain which affected the whole ottoman empire in consequence of the italian (1911-2) and balkan (1912-3) wars, palestine was unable to develop herself in any way before the outbreak of the world war. before 1913 autonomy in the imperial provinces extended in practice only to the right of making recommendations. the ottoman constitution of 1908 had gwakened new hopes, and in syria and palestine particularly so widespread a movement be- gan in favour of decentralisation that the turkish govt. thought it wise to pass the provisional vilayet laws of 1913 and rory, granting real local government powers. it is difficult to con- jecture now to what extent a naturally intelligent people, dis- couraged and enfeebled by four centuries of gross misgovernment, mizht have been helped by plans which were in fact cut short by the war and replaced by the tyranny of jemal pasha. british military occupation.—the british occupation, estab- lished after the conquest of the country by the british forces under general allenby in r917, found a depleted population, the townspeople distressed, much cultivated land untilled, stocks of cattle and horses almost non-existent, orange groves ruined by lack of irrigation and commerce at a standstill. immediately on the occupation of jerusalem (dec. 11 1917), a military admin- istration was set up, at first under brigadier-general clayton, chief political officer to general allenby, as chief adminis- trator; who was followed by major-generals money, watson and bols, with military governors at jerusalem and elsewhere; food was hurried up by military transport for the populace, and merchants were permitted to import goods from egypt by the military railway. in accordance with general allenby’s proc- lamation, all existing rights in holy places were respected and maintained; further, the income of the moslem wakfs (pious foundations) was used exclusively for the moslem beneficiaries in palestine instead of being drained away to constantinople. the administration was, from the outset, financially self-support- ing. a local police force was built up, schools and law courts were re-opened, and, in avril 1918, a water supply for jerusalem, utilising springs employed for the same purpose in the days of herod and pontius pilate, was installed. zionism.—on nov. 2 1917, some five weeks before lord allen- by’s entry into jerusalem, far&(then mr. arthur) balfour, at that time foreign secretary, had made on behalf of h.m. govt. the following historic declaration:— his majesty’s government view with favour the establishment in palestine of a national home for the jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of that object, it being understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-jewish communities in palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by the jews in any other country. the declaration was endorsed by the principal allied powers and embodied in the treaty of sivres, where it was provided that the country should be entrusted to a mandatory power with a mandate to be approved by the league of nations. after the balfour declaration the zionist organisation sent a commis- sion, subsequently constituted as a part of the zionist executive, to palestine to act as a link between the british authorities and the jewish population. this was developed so as to take charge of the larger jewish interests, colonisation, immigration, and edu- cation in palestine. the military administration was, from its inception, assailed with demands on the one hand for an imme- diate and practical interpretation of the balfour declaration, and on the other for a policy of entire negation until such time as that instrument should have been incorporated into some sort of mandate formally adopted by the powers. 21 the home govt. not being in a position to issue even general instructions, the administration, left in a situation without prec- edent more or less to its own resources, was limited by the legal necessity of governing the country under ottoman codes ampli- fied by enactments under military law, according to the “ laws and usages of war.” even so, however, two notable and, in the circumstances, exceptional steps were taken. hebrew was recog- palestine english miles o ae ee kilometres ; 0.20740 33} railways haif gx } cesareat in (a) long. east 35° of greenw. (b ) nised with english and arabic as the third official language, as, with latin and greck, it had been in the time of christ, and con- siderable agricultural loans were advanced to land-owners. at the same time various oppressive small taxes were abolished. the jerusalem chamber of commerce was established and fol- lowed by others elsewhere. the unsightly wall which had been built across constantine’s basilica of the nativity in bethlehem 22 was removed. early in 1920 the moslem nebi musa celebra- tions were exploited as a manifestation of arab national senti- ment against the zionist jews, many of whose recent immigrants had excited animosity by unwise and tactless propaganda. riots took place on april 4 and 5 in jerusalem and raids were made upon beisan and the british garrison at semakh. on july 1 1920 a civil government was established with sir herbert samuel! as the first high commissioner of palestine. but mutual suspicion continued, and with it further incidents. for the establishment of a civil government and the subsequent pro- mulgation of the mandate only brought to a head the difficulties of interpreting even the expanded mandatory text of the declara- tion, and with them the doubts of arabs, zionists and jews throughout the world. the jerusalem riots of 1920 were suc- ceeded next year by a more serious outbreak in jafia and again by disturbances in the capital on the fourth anniversary of the declaration.1 the high commissioner, after two years’ experience of conditions in palestine, returned to london in 1922 in order to represent to ministers the necessity of publishing some state- ment informing all parties concerned more precisely what was, and still more what was not, the government’s interpretation of the balfour declaration. this statement, which was issued as a white paper by mr. churchill, the colonial secretary, and whose policy was formally and publicly accepted by the zionist organisation, explicitly disclaims the intention either of creating a wholly jewish pales- tine or of contemplating the disappearance or the subordination of the arab population, language or culture. the nationality to be acquired by all citizens of palestine, whether jews or non-jews, whether for purposes of internal law or inter- national status would be palestinian and nothing else... . but in order that the jewish community (in palestine) should have the best rospect of free development it is essential that it should know that it is in palestine as of right and not on sufferance. that is the reason why it is necessary that the existence of a jewish national home in palestine should be internationally guaranteed... . the statement was rejected by the palestine arab delegation, then representing the arab cause in london, partly because they were at the time committed to demands involving almost a re- tractation of the mandate and partly from an instinctive reason- ing that the policy even so enunciated might ultimately render palestine arabs of secondary interest and importance in their own country. this new definition has nevertheless considerably affected arab opinion, and, as it has been integrally maintained by successive labour and conservative cabinets, in each of whom respectively high hopes had been placed by zionist and arab “ revisionists,” it has gone far to convince both of the futil- ity of further agitation. constitution.—three months after the beginning of the civil govt. the high commissioner established a nominated advisory council, consisting of 1o british officials and 10 palestinians— seven arabs (four moslem and three christian) and three jews. later, on the promulgation of the mandate, it was thought ad- visable to confer upon palestine a more representative constitu- tion, and an order in council was issued in 1922, providing for the creation of a legislative council consisting of the high com- missioner and 22 other members, of whom ro were to be officials and 12 elected. the elected members were to be eight moslems, two jews and two christians. a virtual boycott of the elections on the part of the arab pop- ulation rendered these proposals abortive, and invitations were issued to leading palestinians with a view to restoring the nomin- ated advisory council, in the same proportion as had been in- tended for the elected council. the invitations were accepted, but subsequently, under pressure of extremist agitation, seven of the 10 who had accepted begged leave to retire. in july 1923 the high commissioner was instructed to offer to the arab popu- lation equal representation with the zionists by means of an arab agency with functions analogous to those of the zionist executive. this was unanimously refused, as an assumption 1 for the general atmosphere and “‘ psychology ” of these events the reader is referred to the report of the commission of enquiry (cmd. 1540, 1921.) . . . palestine that they needed an embassy in their own home, by arab leaders of all sections of opinion. the present system of government is that ordinances are considered first by the high commissioner in executive council, next, after receiving the provisional ap- proval of the colonial secretary, submitted to the advisory council consisting of 10 senior officials. and then published in the official gazette; but do not, save in rare cases of special urgency, become law until at least one month after publication, so that interests affected may be given the opportunity of expressing their views. this they often do with effect. religion.—complete liberty of religion prevails in palestine. in certain matters of internal organisation, however, action has been taken to assist the communities. a purely moslem author- ity has been constituted for the control of moslem religious en- dowments (wakfs) and for appointment of judges in the moslem religious courts. to this authority, represented by an elected council, the government has transferred certain wealthy endow- ments sequestrated 80 years ago by the turks. the council has collected large sums for the restoration, now in progress, of the haram al-sharif in jerusalem, and has established a moslem theological college and an orphanage. the orthodox patriar- chate of jerusalem, torn by dissensions both between the patri- arch and his synod and with the orthodox arab congregation, and crippled by debts, has seen the authority of its patriarch vindicated by a commission of inquiry, and its economic restora- tion begun by a financial commission, both appointed by the government. the valuable russian ecclesiastical properties in jerusalem and other centres have been placed, pending final de- cision as to their juridical ownership, rendered ambiguous by various decrees of the soviet govt. and as a general measure of protection against secularisation and alienation, under an official trustee. these inevitable but unconnected actions have been in some quarters inaccurately represented as a marshalling of orthodoxy by protestantism against rome. the jewish com- munity had possessed no recognised ecclesiastical organisation. the government assembled in 1921 a conference of leading jews from all parts of palestine. two joint chief rabbis were elected; a rabbinical council was established and officially recognised. the lay community was also organised into central and local councils. in 1924 the french protectorate of latin holy places was withdrawn by the vatican. police-—the police force, composed of both arabs and jews, has during the past seven years greatly improved in discipline, efficiency and reliability; and brigands, from biblical times the traditional terror of the highways, have been almost extermina- ted. a unit of palestinian gendarmerie was raised in 1921 con- sisting of s00 n.c.o’s. and men (arabs, jews and circassians) under british officers. this force was entrusted with the defence and policing of the land frontie4 of palestine. in april 1922 a force of british gendarmerie, consisting of 43 officers and 700 other ranks, reduced later by one third, was enlisted in ireland and proved an admirable reinforcement to the other two bodies. the last imperial regiment (sent to palestine not at the request of the administration but by desire of the war office) has (1926) left the country and the total garrison, not supported from the resources of the country, consists of one flight of aeroplanes and two sections of armoured cars. some of the aeroplanes are sta- tioned in transjordan, and the cost to the british taxpayer (estimated for 1925-6 at £e.640,600) excluding expenditure in transjordan, has been steadily, and may be still further reduced. apart from the cost of the garrison, there is not and has never been any grant from the british exchequer in aid of the civil administration of palestine. a re-organisation of the civil forces (police, palestine and british gendarmerie) has just taken place which will increase the british strength of the police. both brit- ish and palestine divisions of the gendarmerie have been dis- banded, and a new frontier force constituted for employment in palestine and transjordan also. | jusiice—the system of justice originally established by the military administration has been amended where necessary. brit- ish judges under a chief justice preside over the two sections of the court of appeal, four district courts and two land courts. palestine all other judges and magistrates are palestinians drawn impar- tially from among the qualified members of the three religious communities. cases of religious law and personal status are still judged as under the turkish regime by the special tribunals of the several creeds. ottoman law, amended by ordinances of the administration, remains the foundation of the legal system. ii. financial and economic development finance.—\n 1923 there was a budgetary deficit of {f.725,000. as a result of drastic economies, the position was retrieved in 1924, and resulted in a surplus of approximately £e.263,000. revenue and expenditure year revenue ee surplus deficit {le f{e fe le 1920-1 1,422,208 | 1,227,056 | 195,152 > 1921-2 1,997,522 | 1,881,108 116,414 - 1922-3 1,764,585 | 1,837,173 2% 72,588 1923-4 1,633,893 | 1,633,227 666 . 1924-5 2,101,072 | 1,806,660 | 294,412 = 8,919,280 | 8,385,224 | 606,644 72,588 the rate of the tithe has since been reduced from 124%, the turkish figure, to 10%, thus relieving the agriculturist at a single step of one-fifth of the weight of the tax. palestine has hitherto had the use, free of payment, of the main line of railway, and of certain other works constructed by the british army for military purposes during the war. communications.—there are 600 km. of metalled main roads in palestine and 600 km. of secondary roads, serving 177 villages, of which 280 km. have been constructed or rebuilt since the establish- ment of the civil administration. many hundreds of miles of tracks connecting scattered villages and settlements are used by motor and other wheeled traffic in the dry weather. in 1914 there was only one motor car in palestine; there are now over 1,000, including more than 600 within the municipal area of jerusalem. the military railway constructed by the army across the sinai desert has been brought under the management of the palestine railway department. a train service is efficiently run from egypt to haifa, from jaffa to jerusalem and from haifa to syria. before the war the postal services were maintained largely by separate agencies of european powers; telegraphs were restricted; telephones unknown. there are now frequent daily deliveries of letters; 34 telegraph offices, 31 public telephone exchanges, and trunk lines to all parts of the country and egypt answers calls in english, arabic and hebrew at any hour of the day and night. public health.—the department of health has directed intensive and successful efforts against malaria, with the co-operation of voluntary organisations, notably the rockefeller foundation, by whom much necessary hospital provision is afforded, except for in- fectious disease, for dealing with which the department is responsi- ble. in combating trachoma, in which the british opthalmic efos- pital of st. john of jerusalem playsa chief part, 50,000 school children are annually inspected; infant welfare centres have been established, largely by non-official bodies, in eight towns; 20 nurses and 38 mid- wives have qualified in the department’s training centres and 82 nurses and four midwives in voluntary institutions. vaccines are prepared and quarantine and disinfection of immigrants and pilgrims returning from mecca ts carried out. free treatment is provided against rabies, the death-rate for the country is 22-53 in towns and 28-01 in districts, while the birth-rate is 47-40 and 53-68 respectively. the infantile mortality rate is 184:43 per thousand. education.—there are 315 government and 489 non-government schools. the schools maintained by government include two train- ing colleges, one for men and one for women. altogether about 50,000 children, aged from 5 to 14, and about 8,800 aged from 15 to 18, receive a measure of education; being 31 °% of the children between the ages of 5 and 14, and 20% of those between 15 and 18. the palestine zionist executive spends some fe.100,000 annually on jewish education. english, scottish and foreign missionary societies also maintain schools. a rchaeology.—in 1918 the military governor of jerusalem, in order to preserve the antiquities of the district, issued and enforced certain public orders; and, to organise public opinion, established the pro- jerusalem society, an international and non-sectarian body, in which all communities and most learned societies participate through their leading members. the society encourages arts and crafts, employs a qualified architect and town planner to protect the amenities of the old and advise on the development of the new city, and has collected in subscriptions some £{e.15,000. a department of antiquities was established in 1920, by which 2,860 historical sites have been registered and are being inspected. a central museum has 23 been organised in jerusalem. work in the field has been undertaken by british, french, american and german schools of archacology and by a palestine jewish archaeological society. a neander- thal skull was discovered in 1925 at tabgha by the british school. assistance to farmers.—the £e.562,000 advanced by the military administration, mostly in small loans on security of land and crops, enabled peasants to buy animals and seed, and in many ways to recover from the devastation of the war. subsequently a depart- ment of agriculture and forests was established, which gives instruc- tions in villages and promotes the use of improved instruments and methods. lt assists the farmer in dealing with animal diseases and plant pests, fumigates his orange trees if affected by scale, protects his cattle from imported diseases by quarantine and veterinary con- trol; has planted about one million trees, and, through its nurseries, has facilitated plantation by others. altogether, four or five million timber and fruit trees have been planted in these years in palestine. jewish agricultural settlements came into existence during the past half century. many were formed on uncultivated and unpromising land which has been transformed into flourishing plantations. the settlers have drained swamps, planted eucalyptus and pines, culti- vated vine and almond and developed the orange trade of jaffa. at the outbreak of war there were 44 scttlements of 87,800 acres. there are at present (1926) about 100 covering an area of 220,000 acres (6 % of the cultivable area of palestine) and supporting a popu- lation of about 24,000. of the older settlements most were founded or largely assisted by baron edmond de rothschild or the jewish colonisation association acting as his agent; the later mostly by the zionist organisation. largely owing to the lifework of eliezer ben yahuda, a practical visionary of genius, llebrew is definitely estab- lished as the vernacular as well as the literary language of pales- tinian jewry. the revival of hebrew culture found in 1925 concrete expression in the formal opening by the earl of balfour of the he- brew university upon mount scopus. hardly less remarkable is the a in 18 years of tel-aviv from the suburb into the rival of jaffa. natural resources and industry.—before the war, industries were almost non-existent. a few soap and oil factories at nablus and else- where, baron edmond de rothschild’s wine factories, and some hand industries, such as the bethlehem mother-of-pearl, represented the sum of local manufacture. largely owing to jewish enterprise, there are now several important factories for silicate bricks, vegetable oil, flour, salt, soap, cement, furniture, matches and textiles, as well as smaller enterprises. an important hydro-electric concession has been granted to mr. pinhas rutenberg for the utilisation of the water powers of the upper waters of the jordan and its tributary the yarmuk. this work has not yet begun but power stations with oil engines have been erected at tel-aviv, haifa and tiberias, whereby light, power and heating are provided in these districts. though haifa seems likely to become the principal harbour, extensive im- provements are contemplated at jaffa, the centre of orange cultivation, and thus of more than half the total export trade of the country. the potash deposits of the dead sea constitute an important potential source of wealth. the balance of trade, shown below, is increasingly adverse, equilibrium being hitherto adjusted by immigration, tourists and charity. imports exports 1922’... ; : : ; : - 5,471,667 1,070,171 1923 4,825,185 1,143,234 1924 5,266,349 e,281,212 1925 - 7,338,491 1,297,559 limited companies (103) have established themselves under the law of palestine, and 52 foreign companies registered themselves locally. on the expiry of sir herbert samucl’s term of office (july 1 1925) lord plumer was appointed high commissioner. bibliography.—ginzberg (achad ha-am., pseud.), essays on zionism and judaism (philadelphia, 1912); a. m. hyamson, pa/es- tine (1917); el. sidebotham, england and palestine (1918); n. bentwich, palestine of the jews (1919); record of the pro- jerusalem society, vol. 1 and 2 (1921, etc.); sir t. a. bertram and h. c. luke, report of commission of inquiry into affairs of orthodox patriarchate of jerusalem (1921); h. c. luke and e. k. roach, izand-book of palestine (1922); sir m. conway, palestine and morocco (1923); p. graves, palestine the land of three faiths (1923); s. tolkowsky, the gateway of palestine (jaffa, 1924); l. stein, zionism (1925); w. b. worsfold, palestine of the mandate (1925). see also the following: official publications, france-british convention of dec. 3 1920 (cmd. 1195, 1921); interim report on the civil administration, 1920-1 (cmd. 1499, 1921); palestine: dts- turbances in may ro21, reports of the commission of inquiry (cmd. 1540, 1921); correspondence with the palestine arab delegation and the zionist organisation (cmd. 1700, 1922); miscellaneous no. 4, mandaie for palestine (note in reply to cardinal gasparri's letter of may 15 1922) (cmd. 1708, 1922); league of nations: mandate for palestine (cmd. 1785, 1922); report on palestine administration, 1922 (1923); papers relating to the elections for the palestine legislative council (cmd. 1889, 1923): agreement between his majesty's government and the french government respecting the boundary line between syria and palestine (cmd. 1910, 1923); proposed formation of an arab agency: correspondence with the high 24 commissioner for palestine (cmd. 1989, 1923); report on palestine administration, 19023, colonial no. § (1924); colonial no. 9 (1925); reports on palestine administration, 1924, colonial no. 12 (1925). t; palestine, operations in.—the british campaigns of 1914-8 in palestine, egypt and syria covered an extensive stretch of territory, from the suez canal to aleppo, a distance by the land route of well over 500 miles. this land route, the oldest highway in the history of the civilised world, along which the tides of thought and trade and war have flowed between asia and africa since time immemorial, traverses a remarkable variety of soil and scenery: the inhospitable desert of sinai; the fertile plains of palestine, flanked by the high rocky citadel of the judaean hills; the deep trench of the jordan valley; and, finally, palestine, operations in egypt was likely to form part of the turkish strategical pro- gramme, largely inspired from berlin. seizure of the canal would paralyse the most vital line of communication of the brit- ish empire and seriously hamper the gathering of its armies. even thethreat must immobilise considerable numbers for passive defence. the dream of reasserting dominion over their former province of egypt was an additional lure to the turks. the turkish advance-——between the southern frontier of palestine and the suez canal lay over 100 m. of almost waterless desert. it was crossed by three routes, of which the northern, near the coast, through rafah, el ‘arish and qatiya to el qantara, was the easiest and best. the turks made their main effort on the centre route, from el “‘auja by the wadi muksheib, which reaches the canal about tussum, south of ismailia; but they also toconstantinople 500 miles" \ 7 tiberias f ule elles ehgh = ae fae deraa’s oheisan titl koi he aki sainweil ef ae. walle l ©, : jerusale u i : el mughaiyiro ¥ unction 0 e 4 a, ~_ ns s§ = s a f eeron of me ee y heria ind © eles saba’ z beersheba ° ee birastyj lol elf es. | wk ; s 4704 as x > ce oy 3 a yd. 2: a i operations in palestine 1914-1918 english miles 50 100 isa railways main roads the syrian plateau with those cities of ancient tale, damascus and aleppo. the fighting was as diversified as the terrain; it comprised battles in the desert and in fertile country, combats in steep bleak hills and in a sweltering valley below sea level, periods of close-locked siege warfare and intervals of rapid movement. the story of the successive advances of the egyptian expedi- tionary force (as the british army in this theatre came to be called) and of the gradual extension of its objective—from the passive defence of the canal to the delivery of the coup de grace to the turkish empire—falls conveniently under four main heads: the suez canal, sinai, palestine, syria. i. the problem of the suez canal when turkey entered the world war on the side of the cen- tral powers at the beginning of nov. 1914, it was obvious that an advance from southern palestine against the suez canal and mersin o, )\ wz a / d : | se ee a ——————— iy = jags beirut ( , flom a sh yi: eershgba mogdhat, es sd di: 2 rai lige = mi, = q* me ‘4 e d » sent smaller forces by the coast road and by the southern route; through nekhli to suez, the most difficult of the three. the turk- ish commander in syria, jemal pasha, directed the enterprise, but its real brain was his bavarian chief of staff, col. kress von kressenstein. in spite of the difficulties, a force of some 12,000 to 15,000 turks was brought within striking distance of the canal by the first days of feb. 1915. the british were not unaware of the danger—though they underestimated the turkish effort—and were ready. the line of defence, which was held mainly by indian troops, lay on the western bank of the canal, leaving the canal itself as an obstacle between the defenders and the enemy. a territorial division (the 42nd) and some australian and new zealand troops, who were completing their training near cairo, formed the reserve. warships in the canal provided gun support and compensated for the scarcity of land artillery. on the night of feb. 2~3 the turks made their effort, reached the canal.and actually succeeded palestine, operations in in pushing three pontoons full of troops across it. these were all killed or captured. an attack next day had no better success, and the turks withdrew, unmolested by any serious pursuit. this first turkish raid, though it failed, proved the desert passable to large bodies of troops and thus compelled the reten- tion of considerable forces in egypt for the protection of the canal. it also showed the unsuitability of the defence on the west bank, since this line could not prevent the attackers from reaching the canal and interfering with the passage of shipping. no change was made in the system of defence, however, till after lord kitchener’s visit in nov. 1915. for during the summer and autumn of ro1s5 the gallipoli campaign was in full swing and absorbed the principal efforts of both turk and briton. the senussi rising in the western desert, too, occupied the attention of the g.o.c. in egypt, gen. sir john maxwell. after the evacu- ation of gallipoli at the end of ro15 and beginning of 1916 egypt contained close on 400,000 british troops, reorganising and recuperating after that gallant but ill-starred adventure. for a short time there existed within egypt three separate and inde- pendent commands, but in march 1916 all three were united under sir archibald murray. meanwhile, early in 1916, a line was taken up in the desert, some 8 to 10m. to the east of the canal. many miles of entrench- ments were dug and revetted in the shifting sand, metalled roads constructed and pipe lines laid. for the turk, freed from con- cern for the safety of his capital, was obviously contemplating a fresh advance on egypt and the canal. he had in fact been busy with preparations ever since the repulse of his first effort. this system of entrenchments, extending for some 80 m. along practically the whole length of the canal, was expensive in men as well as in material. this fact originated the first advance of the egyptian expeditionary force and led to the crossing of the sinai desert, an achievement made possible by sound and thorough organisation, and by the fine quality of the mounted troops, mainly australians and new zealanders, which the desert warfare developed and proved. il. the sinait desert sir archibald murray’s objective was to secure control of the sinai desert, which he saw could be effected by an advance to fl ‘arish near the egyptian frontier. a position here would bar the northern route across the desert and flank the more southerly routes. it would also enable offensive operations to be under- taken against enemy forces concentrating in southern palestine. but an invasion of palestine was not seriously contemplated at this time; the advance was initiated to safeguard egypt and the suez canal. murray estimated the force necessary at five divisions and four mounted brigades, a much smaller force than that needed adequately to garrison the defensive system along the canal. moreover, the farther the defence was removed from egypt the less chance there was of a sympathetic rising there on the approach of the turk. british advance on el‘ avish—the first step was to occupy the qatiya oasis, 25 m. east of the canal, and thus deny to the enemy the only district within striking distance where a suffi- ciency of water permitted the assembly of a large force. the construction of a broad gauge railway from el] qantara towards qatiya was begun, and large numbers of camels were collected to form the transport of the force, since in the soft sand of the desert wheeled transport was impossiblc. for the guns, special ‘* nedrails ’? were constructed and teams doubled. towards the end of april 1916, the turks made a raid on the qativa oasis and surprised and captured some advanced posts of yeomanry. the anzac mounted div., formed in march from australian and new zealand troops, reoccupied the area next day. the object of the turkish raid seems to have been to cause alarm and thus to prevent the further withdrawal of troops from egypt for france, which had been going on during the spring of 1916. by july the advance had reached romani at the western end of a scattered group of oases extending for some 15 to 20m., when a strong turkish force entered the castern end. this force con- sisted of the 3rd div. and certain other units, totalling about 25 18,coo men under kress von kressenstein. after a pause for preparation, at dawn on aug. 4 it attacked the british position at romani, held by the 52nd and 42nd divs., the anzac mounted div. and some yeomanry, in all about 30,000 men, under lt.- gen. the hon. h. a. lawrence. the turks made a determined assault but were heavily repulsed and pursued as far as bir el abd. their losses, including some 4,000 prisoners, amounted to nearly half their total force. they may perhaps be accounted fortunate to have escaped at all, for intense heat and lack of water precluded the more vigorous action in pursuit, which might have made possible the annthilation of the turkish force. the defeated turks retreated to el) ‘arish, leaving a small de- tachment at bir el mazar till the middle of sept., when it was dislodged by the anzac mounted division. there was no further fighting till december. the progress of the british force (now under lt.-gen. sir charles dobell) towards el ‘arish was governed by the rate (about 20 m. a month) at which the railway and its accompanying pipe-line could be laid. the water supply available in sinai was too brackish for constant drinking by troops; even the railway locomotives could not use it for long without loss of efficiency. the sweetwater canal, which runs from the nile at cairo to the suez canal, was the source of the pipe-line supply; from large reservoirs and a great pumping station built at el qantara it was forced through a 12-in. pipe to railhead. in 1917 this pipe-line was extended up to gaza. occupation of el ‘arish and rafah—fearly in dec. the railhead was within 20 m. of el ‘arish. elaborate water and transport arrangements were now made to enable the advanced guard of the british force to capture el ‘arish. this advanced guard was known as the desert column, and consisted at this time of the anzac mounted div. and 42nd and s2nd divs., under .t.-gen. sir philip chetwode. just as all was ready, however, the enemy hurriedly withdrew and el ‘arish was occupied without fighting on dec. 20. , the nearest turkish force (1,600 infantry with four guns) was located at magdhaba, some 20 m. south of el ‘arish. a flying column under gen. chauvel, consisting of the anzac div. and imperial camel corps, was at once dispatched against it. after a night march chauvel attacked the turks in an entrenched position at dawn on dec. 23. by late afternoon, at a cost of under 150 casualties, he had accounted for practically the whole enemy force, capturing 1,300 prisoners and burying roo dead. the only turkish force now remaining within the egyptian frontier was a detachment of about 2,coo near rafah, 25 m. east of fl ‘arish. this was dealt with in a similar fashion by the mounted troops under chetwode. after a night march, he surrounded the turkish position at dawn on jan. 9. some hard fighting followed, for the turks were in a strong position and put up a stout defence. it was not till close on dark that the position was assaulted. the entire turkish force was accounted for, while the british casualities were under 500. these two brilliant actions cleared the egyptian province of sinai from enemy occu- pation. they were striking examples of the power of boldly handled mounted troops, a power the turk was to experience very thoroughly before the end of the war. murray had now obtained his original objective, since the possession of rafah and el ‘arish secured the safety of the suez canal and egypt. towards the end of 1916 he had, however, received instruc- tions which imposed on him a more aciive rele than the mere de- fence of egypt. while this defence was still to be the main con- sideration, il was made clear to him that the war cabinet expected some more spectacular result of the ‘‘ exodus ” across the desert than the negative one of giving checkmate to turkish designs on egypt. at the same time they were not prepared to give murray the additional troops he asked for. indeed, one of his four divisions, the 42nd, was early in 1917 withdrawn to france, leaving him only three in place of the five which he held to be the minimum to fulfil the rele demanded of him. he had the nucleus of a fourth division—the 74th—to be formed from dismounted ycomanry; and the liquidation of the western desert campaign enabled him to add a second mounted division to the force on the palestine border. 26 the situation in the early spring of 1917 was this: railhead was close to the egyptian frontier at rafa, some 20 m. from gaza; the british war cabinet’s policy for the egyptian theatre had finally crystallised into instructions to sir archibald murray to prepare during the summer for an offensive campaign into pales- tine in the autumn; and the turk—now definitely on the defen- sive—had suddenly evacuated a forward position which he had prepared at shellal, and had sketched out a position for the de- fence of palestine between gaza and beersheba. the palestine offensive-—gaza and beersheba, some 25 m. apart, are the two natural gates into palestine from the south, the former by reason of its commanding position on the coast road, the latter as the last water base on the confines of the mountainous desert to east and south. between gaza and beer- sheba, in an almost direct line, run a series of ridges which forma natural defensive position. murray saw that in order to carry out his instructions to prepare for an autumn offensive, it was desirable to push his railhead forward out of the desert up to the cultivated plain of south palestine. the conditions of trans- port would then be entirely different and camels could be largely replaced by wheeled transport. moreover, the capture of gaza would make it impossible for the turk to hold the gaza-beer- sheba line as his main defensive position. it was decided therefore in march to attempt the capture of gaza by a coup de main similar to those at rafa and magdhaba, but on a much larger scale. the difficulties of concentration, of supply and of secrecy were of course much increased by the necessity to employ infantry in addition to mounted troops. the turks had at the time some 7,000 fighting troops in gaza, another 7,000 at tel esh sheri‘a, half-way between gaza and beersheba, and a small garrison in beersheba. the plan was, briefly, for the mounted troops to pass east of gaza, cut the garrison’s line of retreat, and hold off the arrival of any turkish reinforcements from the north or east. the 53rd div. was to assault the heights east and south of gaza, while the 54th div. protected the exposed right flank from the direction of tel esh sheri‘a. attacks on gaza.—the enterprise took place on march 26. unfortunately, a dense sea fog came up with the dawn and caused a delay of two precious hours in the deployment of the infantry. this delay, which could not have been foreseen nor prevented, was the direct cause of the loss of the battle. for the turkish position was strong, and it was not till 5 p.m. that the 53rd div. secured the ‘ali cl muntar ridge which dominates gaza from the east; at the same time, a part of the mounted troops were in the northeastern outskirts of the town. the victory was to all appearances won. in fact the garrison, as was afterwards known, was on the point of surrender. but turkish reinforcements from the north and east were already pressing on the protective screen of the mounted troops; the horses were without water, and dark~ ness was coming on. it had been agreed beforehand that the enterprise should be abandoned if gaza had not fallen by dark. the reports received did not indicate a successful issuc; owing to a breakdown of communications, news of the success of the 53rd div. did not reach the british commander till about 11 p.x, sir charles dobell hesitated to involve his infantry in the intri- cate network of cactus hedges which surrounds gaza, while chetwode was against exposing his mounted troops, exhausted by want of water, to the danger of being overwhelmed by the approaching turkish reinforcements. the withdrawal of the mounted troops was ordered. this exposed the right of the 53rd div., which had to be drawn back from the ‘ali el muntar heights to gain touch with the left of the 54th. the battle was resumed next morning, but the turkish garrison had been rein- forced and had taken heart of grace at the unexpected respite of the previous evening. it was found impossible again to make good the ‘ali el muntar ridge, the key to gaza; and finally the whole force was withdrawn to the wadi ghazze. this first battle of gaza has been a matter of dispute and con- jecture. by many of the troops who took part, i€ was held that the decision to withdraw threw away a victory already won. on the other hand, it is impossible to question that in the cir- palestine, operations in cumstances the order for retirement was justified. the two-hour delay in the morning lost the battle. other contributory causes were the breakdown of communications (partly due to shortness of equipment) and lack of accurate maps, which made it impos- sible for h.q. to obtain timely information of the progress of the fight. though the enterprise had failed, the force had secured a posi- tion on the wadi ghazze which would enable railhead to be advanced to within a short distance of gaza in preparation for the autumn campaign. murray now, however, received instruc- tions to commence an offensive movement at once. a fresh assault on gaza was therefore prepared. but the conditions were now very different; the turk had closed the gap between gaza and beersheba by a series of works, and had greatly extended and strengthened the defences of gaza. he had some five divi- sions in line and a considerable quantity of heavy artillery, so that gen. dobell’s force had no easy task. much hope was placed in some tanks, which were to be used in eastern warfare for the first time. the attack was made in two stages, of which the first, on april 17 was designed to gain a position from which the final thrust on gaza could be made. it was successful. but the decisive attack on april 19 failed with heavy loss; the tanks developed mechanical defects in the heavy sand or were put out of action by the well-placed turkish guns; and the weight of artillery supporting the british attack was insufficient to de- molish the formidable defences of gaza. the british casualties wel!e 7,000. operations before gaza now settled into regular trench war- fare. the sinai campaign was at an end. it had fulfilled its object, the security of egypt; and the careful and thorough organisation which had conquered the desert had laid a solid foundation for the future british successes. for this sir archi- bald murray deserves the greatest credit. he had never been given the number of troops which he had repeatedly stated was the minimum necessary for more extended successes. ill, palestine a long pause in active operations followed the second battle of gaza. the turks, under german leadership, were now gathering their last resources at aleppo for an attempt to recapture bagh- dad. they christened this force the “ yilderim ” (‘‘ lightning ’’) group. the british general staff decided to forestall this enter- prise by an attack in palestine which would divert this army southwards from aleppo and remove the danger to baghdad. the british government also no doubt hoped by a spectacular success in the east to remove some of the disappointment caused to the public by the failure of nivelle’s offensive in france and the military collapse of russia. gen. sir edmund allenby suc- ceeded sir archibald murray in july 1917, with instructions to report on the conditions in which offensive operations could be undertaken against the turkish forces on the palestine front. allenby’s plan outlined —allenby based his plan on an appre- ciation made some time previously by lt.-gen. sir philip chet- wode, who now commanded on the gaza front. the obvious line of advance was by gaza, which would allow of naval co-operation, directly cover the lines of communication, and present compara- tively small difficulties of water supply. but the defences of gaza were too solid to be broken except by a slow and costly process of siege. the turkish centre was also strong and the approach to it difficult. there remained the turkish left, which rested about abu hureira, some 7 m. west of beersheba; the de- fences here were weaker and less complete, and might perhaps be rapidly overwhelmed. this would provide an opportunity for the mounted troops, the arm in which lay the chief superiority of the british force over the turkish. a preliminary operation was necessary to capture beersheba, which the turks held by a detached force; for there was not room to manocuvre bet ween beersheba and the turkish left; moreover possession of the water supply at beersheba was essential to fur- ther operations. the difficulties of capturing beersheba and of placing a sufficient force within striking distance of the turkish left were, however, serious. the three principal problems to be palestine, operations in solved were those of transport, water supply and secrecy. until the gaza-beersheba line had been passed and the cultivated plain of palestine reached, it was not practicable to use motor lorrics, and the force was dependent on horsed transport and camels. this limitation greatly increased the difficulties of water supply, which was the second main problem. its seriousness is illustrated by the fact that the striking force estimated as neces- sary for operations against the turkish left required some 400,000 gallons of water daily. of the 30,000 camels available the majority would be required to carry water. the third great difficulty was to concentrate a striking force sufficient to over- whelm the garrison of beersheba rapidly and then attack the turkish left, without the turks becoming aware of the plan and taking steps to counter or avoid the blow. in spite of the difficulties to be overcome, gen. allenby de- cided to attack the turkish left. ile estimated the total force required at seven divisions and three mounted divisions with additional artillery and aeroplanes. four divisions and two mounted divisions were to attack the turkish left, three divi- sions were to make a subsidiary attack on gaza, and one mounted division was to watch the centre between these two wings, which would be separated by some 20 m. during the operations. the number of divisions was made up to the required total by the roth and 60th from salonika and by the completion of the 75th, already in process of formation. allenby formed his three mounted divisions into the desert mounted corps, under lt.-gen. sir h. chauvel, an australian, and his seven divisions into two corps, the xx., under lt.-gen. sir philip chetwode, and the xxi., under lt.-gen. sir fe. bulfin. the elaborate preparations necessitated by the character of the forthcoming operations occupied the summer and early autumn. the railway across the desert was doubled; and arrangements were made for its rapid extension during operations; ammunition and other stores were accumulated; and the troops underwent special and intensive training. the development of the water supply was also a constant preoccupation. meanwhile, gen. von falkenhayn, in command of the turkish army at aleppo, had realised that the security of the palestine ‘front was essential to the successful prosecution of the plan for the recapture of baghdad. it was accordingly decided to drive the british back into the sinai desert before committing the yil- derim force to the mesopotamian adventure. all troops avail- able at aleppo (only three divisions) were ordered to south pal- estine during september. both turks and british were thus aiming to strike a blow on the palestine front in the autumn of 1917, and each hoped to fore- stall the other. the poverty of the turkish lines of communica- tion decided this issue by the delay it imposed on the southward movements of men and stores. from haidar pasha, the turkish main base on the asiatic shore of the bosporus, to railhead in palestine was a distance of 1,275 m., with a single line of rail only, which, up to aleppo, had also to serve the mesopotamian front. the incomplete tunnels in the taurus and the differences in gauge of the various lines necessitated five or six transhipments of all stores before they reached palestine. scarcity of fuel and jealousies between the german commanders and staff and the turkish officials who controlled the working of the communications fur- ther accentuated the difficulties. consequently, the supply prob- lem crippled turkish movements throughout these campaigns. the force from aleppo was still in process of arrival on the pales- tine front when allenby struck his blow. disposition of the troops.—during the days previous to oct. 31, the date fixed by allenby for the attack on beersheba, the desert mounted corps and the xx. corps (roth, 53rd, 6oth, “ath divs.) were gradually and secretly moved across to the right wing from behind gaza, where they had been m training camps by the sea. there could be no question of concealing entirely the preparations for a movement against beersheba; but allenby did hope to persuade the turks that this movement was only a feint and that the real main attack was against gaza. to this end the xxi. corps (52nd, 54th and 75th divs.), left opposite gaza, began on oct. 26 a heavy bombardment of the 27 turkish defences, assisted by british and french warships from the sea. the intended deception as to the real point of attack was aided by the natural nervousness of the turk of operations by sea against his right flank. he was also perfectly aware of the great difficulties of transport and water supply in the country opposite his left flank, which he believed was sufficiently safe- guarded by these natural obstacles. the turkish forces at the end of oct. consisted of the viii. army (six divisions) under kress von kressenstein, holding gaza and the turkish centre, and the vii. army (three divisions), holding beersheba and the turkish left. the vii. army was not yet complete, one of the divisions from aleppo being still on the lines of communication. von falkenhayn, who was to com- bine the action of these two armies, only arrived at jerusalem on nov. 1. the approximate fighting strengths of the turkish and british forces were: turks, 50,000 rifles, 1,500 sabres, 300 guns; british, 95,000 rifles, 20,000 sabres, 500 guns. allenby’s plan for oct. 31 was as follows: two divisions of the xx. corps, the 6oth and 74th, were to attack the southwestern defences of beersheba, which lay some 4 m. from the town itself, with the 53rd div. protecting the left flank of this attack. the anzac and australian mounted divs., which had concentrated at el khelasa and bir ’asluj, were to reach a position east of beersheba by dawn, close the beersheba-hebron road, and then attack and carry the town as rapidly as possible, before the turks could destroy the wells. capture of beersheba.—during the night of oct. 30-31 the assaulting infantry and artillery moved some 8 m. to their posi- tions of deployment, while the mounted troops undertook a ride of over 25 m. to reach a position east of beersheba. these long and complicated night movements were only made possible by careful preparation and good staff work. at dawn on oct. 31 the attack of the xx. corps commenced. a turkish forward work, hill 1030, had to be taken, to allow the artillery to get within wire-cutting range of the main position. hill 1030 was taken at 8:30 a.m.; the main assault was delivered at 12:15 p.m. and was successful; by early afternoon the british infantry were masters of the turkish defences southwest of the town; they were still, however, some miles from the town itself. meanwhile, the mounted troops, after closing the ilebron road, had been held up by a turkish strong point at tel es saba, 3 m. east of beer- sheba. when this was at last taken, little time remained if the town was to be captured before dark. gen. chauvel accordingly ordered a mounted attack at 4 p.m. the 12th australian light hforse bde. charged over the turkish trenches and rode straight into the town. this daring and well-executed charge resulted in the capture of over 1,100 prisoners and ro guns, and saved the all-important wells from demolition. the infantry had captured another goo prisoners, and the turkish 27th div. had suffered practical annihilation. while the preparations for the decisive attack on the turkish left were being made, the xxi. corps carried out a holding attack at gaza on the night of nov. 1-2. a considerable portion of the gaza defences was carried and heavy losses caused to the turks. left to themselves, the turkish commanders would now proba- bly have retired to a fresh position while there was yet time. but von falkenhayn, imbued with german principles of defence and ignorant of the qualities of the turkish troops he led, ordered a counter-attack with all available reserves to the north of beer- sheba. this led to three days’ heavy fighting against the british 53rd. div., which had been sent into the hills to guard the right flank of the xx. corps. the 53rd div. held its own; consequent- ly, when at dawn on nov. 6 the remainder of the xx. corps (roth, 60th and 74th divs.) attacked and broke through at abu hureira, the turks had no reserves to restore the situation. by nightfall gaza was being evacuated and the whole turkish force was in full retreat. the pursuit by allenby’s mounted troops was hampered by lack of water; and the turkish rear-guards were well handled. a gallant charge at huj on nov. 8 by some squadrons of wor- cestershire and warwickshire yeomanry captured three batteries of guns; but no large bodies of turks were cut off; and the supply 28 question limited the number of divisions which could be used. in the pursuit. on nov. 11 the turks took up a position to cover junction station, where the railway to jerusalem branches off the main line. after a short pause to organise for attack, allenby’s pur- suing troops attacked on nov. 13 and soon dislodged their enemy, in an action remarkable mainly for a dashing charge by a brigade of yeomanry on a strongly held hill above the village of fl mughaiyir. on the following day junction station was captured ; jafia was occupied on the 16th. the capture of junction station definitely divided the turkish armies; the vii. was icft in the hills to defend jerusalem, while the viii. was in the plain to the north of jaffa; there was no good communication between the two armies south of the line tul karm-nablus. before jerusalem.—al\lenby had originally intended to wait until the development of his communications allowed of his whole force being brought up before turning into the difficult hills towards jerusalem. he now decided to oppose the turkish viii. army with a detachment, while with the remainder of his force he turned cast and advanced on jerusalem at once. it was a bold decision, since he had only three infantry and two mounted divisions immediately available, and the supply of these strained the resources of his transport to the utmost; the troops available had already done much hard marching and fighting; little was known of the hill country save that it was very difficult and that there was only one road fit for wheels. the anzac mounted div. and the 54th div. were left to hold the turkish viii. army in the plain, while the remaining three divisions advanced into the hills, the 75th up the main road, the 52nd on its left and the yeomanry mounted div. on the left of the 52nd. both these two latter divisions were entirely dependent on pack transport. the intention was to pivot on the 75th, when that division ar- rived within a certain distance of jerusalem, and to swing the left across the jerusalem-nablus road north of the city. it was hoped thus to compel the surrender or withdrawal of the de- fending turks and to avoid fighting in the close vicinity of the holy city. there was some hard fighting on nov. 20 and 21; the 75th div. captured the crest of the ridge at enzb in a fog on nov. 20 and on the 21st stormed the commanding hill of en nabi sam- weil; the 52nd made similar progress; and the yeomanry were at one time within a short distance of the nablus road. but the british effort had shot its bolt; the men were suffering much from cold and wet, and the artillery support available was insufhi- cient against strong prepared positions. the ycomanry were counter-attacked and driven back, and the send and 73th could make no headway; by nov. 24 it was evident that without fresh troops and a period of preparation jerusalem could not be taken. the difficult passes through the hills had, however, been secured and the boldness of the advance justified. a pause now took place while the british army improved its communications and thus enabled the xx. corps to be brought up from gaza, where it had been left for convenience of supply. it took over the line opposite jerusalem, releasing the troops which had made the first attempt to strengthen the line in the plain. von falkenhayn during this period ordered small local counter-attacks all along the line in the hope of disorganising allenby’s plans. but these attacks had no effect and merely wasted the best remaining elements of the ‘turkish force. the second attack on jerusalem was delivered at dawn on dec. 8, in mist and rain. the brunt of the fighting fell on the 6oth (london) div., assisted on the left by the 74th div. and on the right by the 53rd div., which had previously moved up from beersheba along the hebron road to within striking distance. by the evening the turks had decided to withdraw, and the city surrendered next morning. allenby made an official entry on dec. 11. his brilliant campaign effectively removedall danger to baghdad from the yilderim army, the whole of which had of necessity been used in palestine. the jast reserves of turkish man-power were practically exhausted; and turkey was now in a far worse plight than when germany had, at the commence- ment of 1917, undertaken the re-establishment of her military palestine, operations in prestige by driving the british out of baghdad. von falken- hayn had completely failed to grasp either the conditions of the theatre or the idiosyncrasies of turkish troops. he was replaced early in 1918 by liman von sanders. rising of the arabs—the encouragement given by the british success to the arab revolt caused an additional drain on turkish resources. the arab revolt had broken out a year previously, when hussein, the sherif of mecca, induced the hejaz to rise against the turk. jeddah and mecca were soon captured, but the medina garrison held out. the revolt would probably have ended in the re-establishment of the turks, or in desultory war- fare with little result, had there not appeared a young english- man with an understanding of the arabs and a gift for guerrilla tactics. as col. lawrence he became famous. he persuaded feisal, a son of hussein, who led the arab forces in the field, that the true policy lay not in assaults on the turkish garrison in medina, which if successful would merely rid the turks of an embarrassment, but in gradually spreading the revolt northward up to the very gates of damascus, with propaganda as the prin- cipal weapon, and in ceaseless raiding on the long exposed turk- ish communications to medina, which would form a constant drain on the enemy’s resources. in pursuance of this policy, feisal, with lawrence as his ad- viser, moved his base of operations from opposite medina, first to wejh and next to akaba, which lawrence had captured by a dashing raid. gen. allenby was quick to realise the service which the arab rising was rendering to his operations, and was always sympathetic to lawrence’s requests for equipment or other aid in kind. : 7 allenby’s next aim was obviously to secure sufficient room for manoeuvre in front of jerusalem in the hills and jaffa in the plain. on dec. 20 and 21 the 52nd div. forced a passage of the river el ‘auja, and drove the turks 8 m. north of jaffa, thus improving the position in the plain. in the hills, all preparations had been made for an operation to drive the turks farther from jerusalem, when information was received that the turks them- selves were about to attack. reinforcements, including the rst div., had reached them, and von falkenhayn was determined on an attempt to recapture the holy city. the attack was pressed with great gallantry on dec. 26, but made no impres- sion; on the following days the counter-attack of the british xx. corps carried them some 5 or 6 m. forward and safeguarded jerusalem from the north. later, the eastern flank was secured by the capture of jericho, which took place on feb. 21. early in march, the line was pushed still farther north, both in the hills and in the plain, by a series of small operations. thus by the spring a strong line had been secured, which might have been held by a reduced force in the exhausted state of the turks. | plans for 1918.—meanwhile, the future of the palestine cam- paign in the general plan of the allies for 1918 had become the subject of considerable discussion. in view of the expected great german offensive in the west, there was a considerable body of opinion amongst those who dirccted the allied strategy in favour of closing down as far as possible all commitments in minor thea- tres and of concentrating on the vital western front all rein- forcements that could be spared from them. it was also pointed out that the maintenance of large forces on the palestine front entailed heavy losses in shipping—which was likely to prove the achilles’ heel of the allies—since the submarine menace was especially serious in the mediterranean. | on the other hand, it was believed by many that neither side could force an issue on the western front, so formidably en- trenched, and that the war could be won by the eliminaticn of germany’s weaker allies. they held that one more blow would force exhausted turkey to sue for peace; and consequently advocated a further offensive in palestine. this policy was cven- tually adopted. two divisions, the 3rd and 7th indian, were moved from mesopotamia to reinforce allenby’s army, and all preparations for a fresh great offensive were being made, when the storm broke on the western front. the success of the ger- man offensive of march 21 caused a demand on allenby for all the troops he could spare, which of course necessitated the post- palestine, operations in ponement of his operations. during april and may, two com- plete divisions (the 5znd and 74th), 24 additional british bat- talions, nine regiments of yeomanry and five and a half heavy batteries were withdrawn from the egyptian expeditionary force and dispatched to france. these were gradually replaced by indian cavalry from france and indian units from india, and the egyptian expeditionary force was reorganised on an indian basis. it required much training and organisation to weld all these new, and in some cases raw, units into an effective whole; but by the end of the summer the egyptian expeditionary force was again ready to strike a decisive blow. preliminary operations in 1918.——meanwhile, in march and may, allenby had carried out two raids to the east of the jordan. these raids were an important part of his strategical plan. he had decided that his next great advance should be initiated from his left flank along the coastal plain, where his great superiority in the mounted army could be exploited. therefore, the more of the turkish army he could draw over to the opposite flank, east of the jordan, the easier would it be to break through on the coast when the time came. the railway junction at deraa was a vital point in the turkish communications. if the turkish command could be persuaded by demonstrations east of the jordan that a move in force up the hejaz railway was a possi- b:lity, and if feisal’s arabs could be encouraged to attack deraa and the railway where it ran down the yarmuk valley, the turks would be obliged to move troops east of the jordan. with these objects the raids east of the jordan were undertaken. neither was a complete tactical success. the first raid reached the railway near amman and cut it in several places, but failed to capture amman before supply difficulties caused by vile weather necessitated its withdrawal. in the second raid, the mounted troops reached es salt; but the turks could not be driven from their strong positions in the shunet nimrin pass; and the defeat of the left flank guard of the mounted troops, with the loss of nine guns, rendered their position at es salt dangerous and compelled a withdrawal. but the two raids had the desired effect of seriously alarming the turks for their left flank. after the second, liman von sanders, who was now in command, had been induced to place one-third of his total force east of the jordan, with a correspond- ing weakening of his forces. west of the jordan. allenby kept alive the opposing commander’s fears for this flank by maintain- ing throughout the summer, in spite of the heat, a considerable force in the valley of the jordan. in july the german units operating with the turks made an abortive attack on part of the position of the desert mounted corps. elsewhere on the front there was little serious fighting during the summer. iv. syria at the end of the summer of 1918 the turkish forces were distributed as follows, on a front of 65 m.: the viii. army (five divisions and three german battalions), in the coastal plain and the foothills, faced the british a-xal. corps; the vil. army (four divisions), in the judaean hills astride the nablus road, faced the british xx. corps; while the iv. army (two divisions, one cavalry division and one composite division), in the jordan valley and east of the jordan, was opposed to the desert mounted corps. the total fighting strength of the turks amounted to 32,000 rifles, 3,500 sabres, 350 guns; and that of the british to 57,000 rifles, 12,000 sabres, 5.40 guns. gen. allenby’s plan was the reverse of that of the gaza- beersheba battle; then, he had struck the turkish left while persuading them that his real effort was to be made along the coast against their right; now, he proposed to advance along the coast, while deceiving the turks into thinking that their left flank was threatened. steps were skilfully taken to simulate a concentration of troops in the jordan valley, whereas in fact only a skeleton force, the anzac mounted div. and a few bat- talions, was left there. the rcal concentration was being secretly made in the coastal plain, to which the bulk of the desert mounted corps and the 6oth div. of the xn. corps were trans- ferred. for the success with which this concentration was con- 20 cealed from the turks to the last, british superiority in the air was largely responsible. a simple statement in figures shows how well allenby had succeeded in obtaining an overwhelming superiority of force at the decisive point. when his concentration was complete, he had on a 15-m. front in the coastal plain 35,000 infantry and 400 guns against only 8,coo turks with 130 guns; and behind this mass of infantry were three cavalry divisions waiting to exploit success. on the remaining 45 m. of front he left only 22,000 infan- try with 150 guns, facing 24,000 turks with 270 guns. and the turks were still unaware of his intentions or of the distribution of his force. | | the september offensive—the attack was made at 4:30 a.m. on sept. 19. the preliminary bombardment lasted only 15 min., and the infantry assault, pushed at great speed and in overwhelm- ing strength on a broad front, was rapidly successful. by 7:30 a.m. the leading cavalry division was through the enemy’s lines. the orders to the mounted troops were to ride straight north, situation jon nighta hat sept ith 1918 british lurks gaps in british fine = (=) watched orhightiy b heig = ra:iways =| enplish miles 8 5 10 20 disregarding any hostile troops that did not directly bar their path, cross by the passes near megiddo into the plain of esdrae- lon, and secure el affule and beisan to block the turkish lines of retreat. the leading troops of the sth indian cav. div. reached nazareth, liman von sanders’ headquarters, just 24 hours after their start, having covered 52 m.; they failed only by accident to capture the person of the enemy commander-in-chief. the qth cav. div., moving farther to the east, covered 70 m. to beisan in 34 hours. the advance was carried out with great dash and there were several instances of successful mounted attacks. a regi- ment of the sth cav. div. rode over a turkish battalion in the plain of esdraelon; and a brigade of the australian mounted div. galloped into the village of jenin, occupied by a numerous force of turks and germans, thus sealing one of the main exits from the trap in which the turkish vii. and viii. armies were now caught. meanwhile the british infantry of the ax1. corps, after breaking through the turkish fortified system in the plain, had wheeled to the right and driven the remnants of the turkish viil. army into the hills. the 60th london div. (maj.-gen. shea) actually reached tulkeram before dark on the roth, having fought and marched 18 m. over very heavy going. during the two days following sept. 19 the nxi. corps con- tinued to press their pursuit, while the xx. corps also pushed forward along the judacan hills to nablus. the infantry of these {wo corps thus shepherded the straggling remains of the turkish vil. and viii. armies into the hands of the mounted troops. the royal air force, with bombs and machine-gun fire, caused havoc amongst the bewildered turkish transport, penned in and crowded on narrow hill roads. only a few of the most determined turks and some of the better fed and disciplined german units managed to break out to the east and cross the jordan. the germans fought well throughout the retreat. meanwhile, the turkish iv. army had remained inactive, ignorant of the fate of the other armies. on the 22nd it began a hurried retreat on amman, hoping thence to escape up the hejaz. 30 railway to damascus. it paused at amman till sept. 25, await- ing the arrival of the maan garrison from the south. but the iv. army was now not only too late to rescue this force, but too late to secure its own safety. feisal’s northern arab army was al- ready between it and damascus, and the whole countryside was rising against the turks. the arabs under lawrence had al- ready contributed largely to the discomfiture of the turks by their raids on the lines of communication near deraa, which they cut effectively from sept. 17 onwards. they were now ina position to delay and harass the iv. army in its march north. the final victory —the turkish vii. and viii. armies hav- ing been disposed of, allenby ordered a part of his mounted troops to occupy haifa, which was captured sept. 23 by a most gallant charge of the indian imperial service brigade. the remainder were dispatched east and northeast to cut off the iv. army and to capture damascus. the 4th cav. div. was to cross the jordan near beisan and move on deraa, while the australian mounted div. was to make direct for damascus by the road which runs from nazareth to the west of lake tiberias, crossing the jordan at jisr benat yakub. on sept. 25 there was a fierce fight at tell es semakh at the southern end of lake tiberias. the 4th aus- tralian light horse bde. charged in the dark over unknown ground and captured the village after hand-to-hand fighting with a force composed largely of germans. the turkish iv. army passed deraa before the 4th cav. div. could head it off, but under pressure from this division and from the arabs it gradually disintegrated. the end came on sept. 30, when the australian mounted div., which on sept. 28 had over- come some determined opposition to its crossing of the jordan, succeeded in getting astride the damascus-beirut road just out- side the city, cutting off the remains of the iv. army. damascus was occupied next day, oct. 1. immediately after the capture of damascus, malaria and influenza broke out and placed a great proportion of the british mounted forces out of action. it also seriously affected the very numerous turkish prisoners. there was now no formidable turkish force in southern syria. to complete its occupation, two columns advanced. the 7th div. left haifa on oct. 1 and moved up the coast to beirut, which it reached on the 8th, and then on to tripoli, which was occupied on the 18th; the sth cav. div., which though less affected by maliria and influenza than other formations, was considerably below establishment, advanced from damascus by homs (oct.16), hama (oct. 20) to aleppo, which was occupied on oct. 26. the last fighting took place north of the town on the 28th. on the 31st an armistice was concluded. between sept. 19 and oct. 26 the british army had moved its front forward a distance of 360 miles. during this period the 5th cav. div. had actually covered over 500 miles. the captures included 72,000 turks and nearly 4,000 germans and austrians, 350 guns, 800 machine guns and large quantities of transport and other material. his- tory records few victories, if any, more striking and complete. conclusions.—these campaigns of the egyptian expeditionary force are of great strategical interest. for the military student they will alvays remain classic examples of the use of mounted troops and of the value of mobility. conditions of war change, and it may be that some mechanical form of transport will en- tirely replace the horse as the means by which mobility can be secured. but the power of mobility as a strategical weapon, in the hands of a commander who has the knowledge and the de- termination to use it as did gen. allenby, will only be enhanced. a second strategical lesson is the advantage gained by a com- mander who can conceal his intentions from his opponent. in both his great battles against the turk, allenby completely de- ceived his adversary as to his plans, and had thus secured a deci- sive superiority before the battle was joined. only constant fore- sight and careful preparation can effect this. air superiority is a factor of increasing importance in this question of concealment of plans and movements. finally, the dependence of all strategy on the communications may be stressed. the turks added to the initial handicap which their long and difficult lines of communication imposed on them by their neglect to improve these and by the inefficiency of their palgrav]i—panama working. von falkenhayn, during his command, entirely failed to adapt his strategy to the limitations necessitated by his means of transport. on the british side, the greatest care was devoted to developing the communications in accordance with the strate- gical plan, and the supply services were thus able to cope even with such problems as were presented by the rapidity of the advance to damascus and aleppo. bistrocrariy.—a. aaronsohn, with the turks tn palestine (1917); e. dane, british campaigns in the nearer east (1917); w. t. massey, the desert campaigns (1918); r. preston, the desert mounted corps, palestine and syria, 1917-18 (1921); record of the advance of the egyptian expeditionary force, july 1917—-october 1918 (official 1922); m. bowman-mainfold, an outline of the egyptian and palestine campaigns, 1914-18 (1922), see also worlbd war: bibliography. (a. p. w palgrave, sir robert harry inglis (1827-1910), british banker and economist, was born at westminster june 11 1827, the son of sir francis palgrave, the historian (see 20.629). he was educated at charterhouse and entered bar- clay’s bank at yarmouth. there he rose to a position of such im- portance that in 1875 he was one of three representatives of the english issuing country bankers chosen to give evidence before the select committee of the house of commons on banks of issue. he edited the economist from 1877 to 1883, and pub- lishesl many works on banking, as well as the local taxation of great britain and ireland (1871). he also edited the dictionary of political economy (1894-1906). he was knighted in 1909, and died at bournemouth jan. 25 1919. palm beach, fla., u.s.a. (see 20.643), one of the most luxurious of the winter resorts on the east coast (population, 1920, 1,135). opposite to it is west palm beach, which stretches for eight m. along lake worth, and advertises itself as the place ‘‘ where summer spends the winter.”’ its population in 1910 was 1,743; in 1920, 8,659; and in 1925, according to the state census, it was 19,146. both shared in the florida boom that began in 1922. an extension of the seaboard air line in 1924 established rail connection with the west coast, and more than 2,000 houses were built in the next 12 months.