﻿60 



Analysis of the Coprolites of Birds. 



^ 



Crate of ammonia, 

 Uric acid, 



Ammonia, 



Oxalate of ammonia, 



lime, 



Kla- 

 proth. 



.- 



12-75 



Fourcroy 



and 

 Vauqnelin 



9- 



Voeikel 'Bartels. 



10-6 

 7- 



Phosphate of ammonia, 



*» 



u 



Phosphate of lime, 



ammonia and mag., 

 soda, 

 Muriate of soda, 



Sulphuret of soda, 



44 potash, 

 Muriate of ammonia, 

 Clay and sand, 



10 



6 





14-3 

 2-6 



0-5 



Water and organic matter, 



32 



2875 



3-3 

 5-5 

 42 



4-7 



32-3 



9 



Johnston. 

 2 analyses. 

 1st. 2d. 



3-24 



10-6 



7- 



13-35 

 1636 





 



0-8 

 7- 



6 



6-45 



143 



2-6 



3-8 

 5-5 

 4-2 



47 



9-91 

 419 

 5-29 

 0-10 



1-19 

 4-22 



6 50 



5-90 



with some 

 carb. lime. 



44- 29-3 



Ure 



Anon v. 

 mous 



oxnlnte 

 included. 



13- 





25 



321 11-4 



323 2831 23-5 51-5 



1 from 

 birds' 

 crops. 

 61* 



15 

 15 



30.i 



3 



364 



The samples examined by Dr. Ure were the purest guano fur- 

 nished by the governments of Peru and Bolivia. Casting the 

 eye over all these results, we draw two inferences : 1st. If your 

 coprolite had been the excrement of a reptile, it must have beeu 

 placed in peculiar circumstances to have had its uric acid so 

 fully removed. If removed, it has left a compound more nearly 

 resembling that of guano. This is decisive. 2d. It is seen from 

 Prof. Johnston's results, that it is possible to have all the uric 

 acid removed in one case, and 08 only remaining in another, 

 leaving phosphate not differing much in its proportions from that 



found in your coprolite. 



If we recur with these facts in mind to your coprolite, and 

 bear in mind its urates, phosphates of lime and magnesia, car- 

 bonate of lime, sulphates, muriates, and organic matter, volatili- 

 zed at a red heat, and silicates, the conclusion seems inevitable, 

 that it has been dropped by a bird belonging to the class which 

 has deposited the beds of guano.f 



* Including urate of ammonia, and 11 water 



t Within a few weeks my attention was called Dy reading an article in me 

 London Mecli. Mag. to a paper by MM Girardin and Preisser on fossil bones, 

 which I have since read in Ann. do Chimie for November, 1843. At page 370 is 

 the following account of the results of an examination of the coprolite of an Ich- 

 thyosaurus from Lyme Regis, Eng. The ingredients are stated in the order of 

 their greatest amount Subpbosphate of lime, (much); carbonate of lane; urate 

 of ammonia; urate of lime; silica; oxalate of lime, (small); alkaline sulphates, 



fish scales. 



October 23d, 1844. 



