8 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 1 39 



like processes. And there is only one carotid artery while in cor- 

 morants there are two. 



The description of Osteodontornis orri by Hildegarde Howard 

 (1957a, pp. 1-23) from the Monterey formation in the Miocene of 

 California adds a third species to the strange Odontopteryges, whose 

 common character is found in the sharply pointed, dentate projections 

 developed on the margins of upper and lower mandibles as continuous 

 parts of the bony structure of the jaws. This suborder was placed 

 tentatively (Wetmore, 1930, p. 3), following Lydekker (1891, pp. 

 57-58), in the Pelecani formes, but this was not definite, as the char- 

 acters of Odontopteryx have been interpreted by some as indicating 

 closer alliance to the petrel-albatross group. In July 1956, at the 

 British Museum (Natural History), through the kind attention of 

 Dr. W. E. Swinton, I had the privilege of studying the type skull of 

 Odontopteryx toliapica Owen, which came from the London clay of 

 the lower Eocene, on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, England. It was 

 possible thus to ascertain certain details not clear from the published 

 accounts. As a result of this study it is my opinion that the characters 

 clearly indicate relationship with the Pelecani formes. 



Without repeating unnecessary detail, available in Lambrecht's 

 great volume (1933, pp. 304-307), it was interesting to note the 

 strongly marked craniofacial hinge at the base of the bill, like that of 

 gannets and cormorants, and also the impressed line along the side 

 of the premaxilla, and the definite closure of the external narial 

 opening, as in the Sulidae. The distal articular end of the quadrate 

 suggests that of Phacthon, though somewhat more flattened, with the 

 whole articular surface narrower, and the separate segments more 

 nearly in line than in any living species of the various pelecani form 

 families. The lachrymal appears to have been slender and is firmly 

 anchylosed on its upper margin to the frontal as in Phalacrocorax. 

 The rounded cranium suggests that of pelicans, rather than the more 

 flattened form of other families of the order. The sum of the char- 

 acters indicates a bird of gannetlike diving habit that, when slippery 

 aquatic prey was seized, could hold it firmly in the sharp dentations of 

 the mouth. 



Dr. Howard in her interesting study of Osteodontornis has elevated 

 the group to the rank of an order, on the consideration that it "may 

 represent an early connection with procellariiform-pelecaniform 

 stock" (1957a, p. 22). It has seemed to me appropriate to emphasize 

 the evident pelecani form character by retaining the two families recog- 

 nized in subordinal status in that group, since the resemblances that 

 point toward the Procellarii formes appear to be much less definite and 



