410 On British Fossil Birds. 



trochlea. The femur likewise presents the extreme flattening 

 from front to back characteristic of the corresponding hone 

 of Colymbus, and was also relatively short. 



A tarso-metatarsus from the Cretaceous rocks of the United 

 States described by Professor O. C. Marsh as Baptornis so 

 closely resembles that of Enaliornis as to indicate that it 

 belonged to a closely allied, if not generically identical, bird, 

 and from this type of tarso-metatarsus it is but a step to the 

 still more remarkable one of the American Cretaceous genus 

 Hesperornis. It is therefore probable that both Enaliornis 

 and Baptojmis were furnished with teeth, and were more or less 

 intimately related to Hesperornis. It is scarcely necessary to 

 mention that very different views have been entertained as to 

 the affinities of the latter. Thus Professor O. C. Marsh, its 

 original describer, while comparing its bones seriatim with 

 those of Colymbus, spoke of it as a " swimming Ostrich,^' a 

 confusion of ideas which it is somewhat difficult to under- 

 stand. Subsequently Professor Alfred Newton decisively 

 referred the genus to the Ratitse, a view which has been 

 recently disputed by Professor D^Arcy Thompson in a recent 

 issue of the ' Studies from the Museum of University College, 

 Dundee.^ Herein it is concluded that Hesperornis was a 

 flightless bird so closely allied to Colymbus that it must find 

 a position in the same subclass or order. In spite of the 

 weight attaching to any opinion expressed by the Cambridge 

 Professor, the present writer, from his own studies, can but 

 range himself on the side of Professor D'Arcy Thompson, and 

 conclude that Hesperornis, and probably Enaliornis and 

 Baptornis, must be placed in a distinct group of the Carinatae, 

 for which Professor Marshes name Odontolcse may be re- 

 tained. 



Thus concludes this brief summary of the present state 

 of our knowledge of British Fossil Birds. It is hoped 

 that this attempt to bring together in a concise form the 

 present state of the subject will result in so stimulating 

 collectors that the list of species and genera will ere long 

 be largely augmented. 



I 



