150 Transactions of the Society, 



Cassowary or Apteryx ; but the bird-like footprints in the Trias, 

 which gave support to this belief, were not accompanied by any 

 osseous remains. When such remains were met with, they proved 

 that the supposed footprints of great Eatite birds were really made 

 by bird-footed bipedal reptiles. When a feathered fossil was first 

 discovered, its bony skeleton, although accompanied by impressions 

 of feathers, presented so many points of resemblance with the 

 Eeptilia, as to lead the German naturalist Wagner to name it 

 Gryphornis. This bird, the Archceopteryx, was obtained from the 

 lithographic stone of Solenhofen, Bavaria, and exhibited a tail 

 elongated like that of a lizard, comprising some twenty free vertebra?, 

 each bearing a pair of feathers. The pelvis was not constructed of 

 a large number of anchylosed vertebrae, but had only two or three 

 vertebras coalesced with the iliac bones ; the vertebras were either 

 amphiccelous or with flat ends ; the sternum is not well known, but 

 the furculum resembles that of modern carinate birds. The wing 

 was small, with three free digits, each terminated by a claw. It 

 is not certain if the metacarpal bones were fused together or not ; 

 the hind limb is essentially Avian, but the tibia does not show the 

 usual cnemian crest. In addition to the characters of the tail and 

 wing-bones, the skull also — which was very imperfectly preserved 

 in the first example — is now known (from a second example pre- 

 served in the Berlin Museum), to have been furnished with a series 

 of conical teeth, both in the upper maxillae and the mandible. The 

 foot is that of a true perching bird. 



The next example of a fossil bird met with is from the Upper 

 Chalk of Kansas, in America, and makes us acquainted with a 

 huge fish-eating ratite bird, resembling in general form the loons 

 and grebes. The Bcsperornis, which was apparently destitute of 

 wings, possessed a long neck, and elongated skull ; the margins of 

 both jaws are provided with very numerous teeth arranged in 

 grooves, not in distinct sockets. There are twenty-three pre-sacral 

 vertebras united with saddle-shaped articulations, like those of 

 modern birds, seventeen being cervical vertebras ; fourteen are 

 fused together in the much-extended sacrum, and there are twelve 

 caudals, eight or nine of which are free. 



The femur is remarkably short, thick, and flattened ; the tibia- 

 tarsus is the largest bone in the skeleton, and very stout and 

 powerful, its legs and feet being admirably adapted for swimming 

 and diving ; there are four digits in the foot, the fourth or outer 

 toe being much the largest. One specimen discovered shows traces 

 of feathers, which were soft and plume-like over the whole 

 body. 



The Hcspcrornis rcgalis attained a height of 3 ft. 6 in. when 

 standing. On account of its ratite breast-bone, and its rudi- 

 mentary wings, it has been spoken of by Marsh as " the swimming 

 ostrich." 



