638 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



Sceparnodon really pertain, as first suggested by myself, to the 

 giant wombat, Phascolonus gigas. 



Two articles by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt on fossil birds have 

 appeared during the year. The most interesting item in the 

 first of these {Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. vol. xxxii. pp. 285-306) 

 relates to certain bones of the gigantic Eocene birds originally 

 described by the late Prof. E. D. Cope as Diatryma, the type 

 species being from New Mexico. The new specimens, for which 

 the name D. ajax is suggested, are from the Wasatch Eocene of 

 Wyoming, and, with the exception of a couple of toe-bones, are 

 in a fragmentary condition. Nevertheless, the author considers 

 himself justified in making the astounding statement that the 

 bird to which they pertained was " fully double the size of 

 Diatryma gigantea of Cope, and that it may possibly have 

 attained a height of over thirty feet," or nearly five times that of 

 a big ostrich ! The other bones described, which are from 

 various horizons, are referred for the most part to birds of prey 

 and game-birds ; a new genus, Palceophasianus, of the latter group 

 being named on the evidence of imperfect bones from the 

 Wasatch Eocene of Wyoming. 



In the second communication {Journ. Geol. vol. xxi. pp. 628- 

 52) Dr. Shufeldt discusses fossil specimens in which the 

 imprints of birds' feathers are preserved, commencing with those 

 of Arch&opteryx. Such impressions, accompanied by one leg, 

 on slabs from the well-known Green River Shales of Wyoming 

 are made the type of a new genus and species of perching-bird, 

 under the crude name of Yalavis lenuipes, with the significant 

 remark that " birds of the same genus and species may or 

 may not be still in existence ; the probabilities are that they 

 are not." 



To vol. i. (pp. 1 1 1-26) of the Memoirs of the Royal Society of 

 South Australia Dr. E. C. Stirling contributes an account of 

 additional remains of the giant Australian bird, Genyornis newtoui, 

 from Lake Cadibona. 



Papers on reptiles, especially those of South Africa, have 

 been unusually numerous during the year. The first for con- 

 sideration is one by Mr. R. W. Hooley (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. 

 vol. lxix. pp. 372-422) on the skeleton of a large pterodactyle 

 from the Wealden of Atherfield, Isle of Wight, referred to the 

 genus Ornithodesmus, under the name of O. latidens. Whether 

 Jhis reference is correct seems open to doubt, as it is stated iji 



