Mr. J. S. Bowerbank on the Remains of a gigantic Bird. 263 



XXIV. — On the Remaiiis of a gigantic Bird (Lithornis Emuinus) 

 from the London Clay of Sheppey. By J. S, Bowerbank, 

 F.R.S. &c. 



The first indication of the former existence of new and often 

 very large animals is frequently afforded by small and compa- 

 ratively insignificant fragments, and such is the case in the pre- 

 sent instance. 



Professor Owen has described, in his * Fossil Mammals and 

 Birds,' the remains of more than one spe- 

 cies of the latter from the London clay, 

 which specimens are in the collection of the 

 College of Surgeons, and in those of Mr. 

 Wetherell and myself; and since that period 

 I have acquired another specimen, which ap- 

 pears also to be the remains of Lithornis vul- 

 turinus ; but none of these birds could have 

 exceeded in size one of the smaller species of 

 the Gull tribe. The unassuming specimen 

 that I now introduce to my readers as a 

 portion of one of the long bones of a bird, 

 surpasses in size a full-grown Albatross, a 

 bird having an expanse of wing of about 12 

 or 13 feet. 



I procured this fragment at Sheppey some 

 years since, and had really forgotten it until 

 it was brought to my recollection in conse- 

 quence of the late Dr. Mantell having obliged 

 me with the examination of some similar 

 but somewhat smaller portions of bone of 

 a Pterodactylus from the Wealden formation 

 of the Isle of Wight, when the idea arose in 

 my mind of the possibility of its turning 

 out to be the remains of a Tertiary Ptero- 

 dactyl of like dimensions to some of the 

 larger chalk species ; but on submitting a 

 fragment of it to microscopical examination, 

 I at once saw that there was not a trace of 

 reptilian character in its structure, but that, 

 on the contrary, the bone-cells and Haversian 

 canals presented all the well-known pecu- 

 liarities of form and arrangement that cha- 

 racterize the Bird tribe. 



The length of the specimen is 4 inches, 

 and the greatest diameter of the larger end 

 is exactly 1 inch. At this part the section of the bone is trian- 



