27(5 



fowl in the Pappenheim stone; and Faujas St. Fond has 

 figured two feathers found in the calcareous stone of 

 Vestena Nuova. 



Cuvier, whose zealous exertions always contributes to 

 the advancement of science, has not only ascertained the 

 existence of fossil remains of this class, but has furnished 

 the student with information which must aid him in his in- 

 vestigations with respect to these fossils. The foot, he 

 observes, in birds, has a single bone in the place of the 

 tarsal and metatarsal bones. Birds, too, form the only 

 class in which the toes all differ as to the number of joints, 

 and in which this number, and the order of the toes which 

 have them, is nevertheless fixed. The great toe has two; 

 the first toe, reckoning on the inside, three ; the middle, 

 five ; and the outermost five. The crocodile has the same 

 number of phalanges; but, as these have a tarsel and meta- 

 tarsal bone, they cannot be mistaken. Some birds have no 

 great toes, but, in these, the other toes preserve the 

 usual order; the ostriches and cassowars have three 

 toes. Although the crocodile has the same number of 

 phalanges, yet, as every one of the toes is supported 

 by a particular metatarsal bone, the distinction is easily 

 made. 



From an attention to the different specific characters, 

 Cuvier ascertained the existence of the remains of five 

 or six different species of birds in the plaster quarries near 

 Paris. Among these are the bones of a pelican, less than 

 pelicanus onocratulus, and larger than P. carbo ; of one of 

 the larger curlews, with a naked neck (tantalus, Gmelin) ; 

 of a woodcock, a starling, and a sealark (alouette de mer.) 



He also describes and figures a bird, found in the quar- 

 ries of Montmartre, which appears to have fallen on its belly 

 on the newly-formed gypsum, without having been quite 

 involved in it ; and having, probably whilst in this state, 

 been deprived of its head and the whole of the right leg. 



