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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Kansas fossils the fact was established that birds with teeth for- 

 merly existed. 



The deposits of Kansas in which the Hesperornis has been 

 found have yielded also the remains of another Cretaceous bird, 



Fig. 4. Restoration of Icqthyornis victor (after Marsh). One half natural size. 



the Ichthyornis. This animal was small, of about the size of the 

 tern, and probably also resembled it in its habits and mode of liv- 

 ing ; at any rate, it was a good flier, with powerful wings and 

 small legs. The Ichthyornis also had teeth in both jaws. But in 

 still another respect it was different from all our present birds. 

 The articular faces of its vertebrse were not saddle-shaped, but 

 simply excavated on both sides ; they were biconcave. This form 

 of vertebrae is met with in a few recent and many extinct reptiles, 

 and in the amphibians. But it is especially characteristic of 

 fishes, and the name has been chosen on account of it, for Iclithy- 



