192 Charles Darwin. 



One of the most interesting events of the scientific 

 world of America in the past twenty years was the 

 announcement by Professor Marsh that he had dis- 

 covered in the ancient sea-bed or shore of the West 

 the remains of birds which possessed reptiHan teeth 

 and were evidently descendants of reptiles. This 

 announcement was received with incredulity by the 

 scientists of Europe ; but their doubts were silenced 

 when the remains of not one but scores of specimens 

 were deposited in the Yale museum at New Haven, 

 showing fully the remarkable nature of the discovery. 

 Professor Marsh states that the remains found by 

 him represent birds which had remarkable reptilian 

 afifinities and were undoubtedly descended from 

 some remote reptilian ancestor. 



The most striking form discovered was the one 

 called by him Hesperornis regalis. It represented a 

 bird about six feet in length, resembling to some 

 extent the loon of to-day. It was an aquatic bird, 

 but flightless, being without a vestige of wings. Its 

 neck was long, its feet extremely large, and its 

 pointed bill, armed with sharp recurved teeth, ad- 

 mirably adapted for securing and holding prey. The 

 size of the latter was not material, as the lower jaw 

 was united in front by a cartilage, as in the snakes, 

 giving them the power of swallowing a fish of large 

 size. That a bird should be provided with teeth is 

 extraordinary ; but in this case they were almost 

 identical with those of reptiles. 



In referring to this bird Professor Marsh says : 

 " Having thus shown what the skeleton of Hesperor- 

 nis is, and what its mode of life must have been, it 



