Fossil Birds in the Marsh Collection of Yale University 21 



Hesperornis regalis Marsh. 

 {Plate XV, Fig. 129.) 



Cat. No. 903, Peabody Museum, Yale University. Kansas. Upper Creta- 

 ceous (Niobrara). O. C. Marsh, collector. 



This specimen has been compared by me — as well as I could do so 

 through the glass case — with the mandible of the mounted specimen 

 of Hesperornis regalis in the United States National Museum, the 

 distal extremity of one side of which is original and perfect. I am 

 satisfied that the present specimen is the proximal extremity of the 

 right ramus of Hesperornis regalis, in which bird that portion of the 

 lower jaw had a posterior supero-concaved extension which is here 

 shown in Figure 128. 



Laornis edvardsianus Marsh. 

 (Plate II, Fig. 10.) 



Marsh, Amer. Journ. Sci., ser. 2, XLIX, 1890, 206. 



Holotype. Cat. No. 820, Peabody Museum, Yale University. Birmingham, 

 New Jersey. Upper Cretaceous (Middle Marl Bed). 



This is a most interesting specimen, and Professor Marsh gives a 

 detailed account of it in the place above cited — so full, indeed, that 

 it would be quite superfluous for me to add anything to it beyond a 

 minor detail or two. However, it may be as well to point out that 

 Professor Marsh referred the specimen to the ''left" pelvic limb, 

 which is an error, for it comes from the right. In other words, it is 

 the distal portion of the right tibio-tarsus of some extinct bird larger 

 than a Sandhill Crane {Grus mexicana). 



He also seems to only have compared it with the corresponding 

 bone in a Swan (Cygnus americana) , a Goose (Branta canadensis), a 

 Herring Gull {Larus argentatus), and then closed his article by saying 

 that "A consideration of the characteristic points of this interesting 

 fossil leads to the conclusion that it should be placed in the order Nata- 

 tores, but additional remains will probably be required to determine 

 its exact affinities. It shows a strong resemblance in several respects 

 to the Lamellirostres, and also to the Longipcnnes, but differs essen- 

 tially from the typical forms of both these groups." 



The specimen is in very good condition, being but slightly chipped 

 in some places, though nowhere to an extent to prevent one from 

 clearly making out the characters. It is always an easy matter to 

 distinguish the pelvic limb — right or left — to which any specimen of 

 the lower half of the tibio-tarsus, presenting the characters that this 



