PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Vol. 85 Washington : 1938 No. 3030 



A MIOCENE BOOBY AND OTHER RECORDS FROM THE 

 CALVERT FORMATION OF MARYLAND 



By Alexander Wetmore 



Systematic search in the Miocene deposits of Chesapeake Bay has 

 brought to attention the remains of many cetaceans, but discoveries 

 of birds have been relatively few. The fossils in these beds are found 

 in moist clay, a condition destructive to delicate bones such as those 

 of birds, which may account for the relative scarcity of this group 

 in the formation in question. 



Several years ago I reviewed what bird material was available 

 from these deposits,^ noting only two species that were definitely 

 identifiied — Puffinus conradi Marsh and Moris loxostyla (Cope), the 

 bird named &uJa atlantica by Sliufeldt being a synonym of the 

 latter. 



Though the Calvert cliffs are kept regularly under observation, 

 no further pertinent bird material came to hand until 1934, when 

 Dr. W. Gardner Lynn and R. Lee Collins, of Johns Hopkins Uni- 

 versity, began an intensive survey of the stratigraphy of the Miocene 

 along Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. This work has been con- 

 tinued by Mr. Collins subsequent to his departure from Johns Hop- 

 kins. Specimens obtained by these gentlemen have been placed in 

 the United States National Museum, and the notes herein discuss the 

 avian material found to 1937 in their collecting. 



Figures illustrating certain specimens have been made for me by 

 Sj'dney Prentice. 



lAuk, 1926, pp. 462-468. 



27424—37 21 



