ORIGIN AND CHARACTERISTICS 7 



Milne-Edwards referred the various remains no 

 less than half are still existent, whilst the other 

 seven are more or less closely allied to others in 

 a similar state. Precisely the same remarks 

 apply to the Ornitholites of this period from 

 equivalent beds in other parts of Europe, in- 

 cluding our own islands, but the remains of 

 many additional species have been discovered, 

 most of them more or less distantly allied with 

 types that are living in our own era, although in 

 not a few cases not in the same geographical 

 areas as was then the case. The Ornitholites 

 of North America tell a very similar story ; 

 whilst a most interesting avine fossil of this 

 period from New Zealand, Palaeeudyptes antarc- 

 ticus, a giant Penguin standing seven feet high, 

 is specially worthy of mention. 



The Ornitholites peculiar to the Miocene 

 Period, as might naturally be expected, still 

 continue to present, and in increasing abund- 

 ance, characters which indicate still closer 

 affinities with genera and species of birds that 

 are in existence now. Some of course of those 

 fossils represent types that have completely 

 disappeared from the earth, but in few cases 

 do we find such vast distinctions that characterise 

 the Ornitholites of earlier eras, an eloquent and 



