CHAP. XXII. FEATHERED ARCH^OPTERYX OE THE OOLITE. 453 



feathers. But, since Professor Owen's paper was read, Mr. 

 John Evans, whom I have often had occasion to mention in 

 the earlier chapters of this work, seems to have found what 

 may indicate a part of the missing cranium. He has called 

 our attention to a smooth protuberance on the otherwise 

 even surface of the slab of limestone which seems to be the 

 cast of the brain or interior of the skull. Some part even 

 of the cranial bone itself appears to be still buried in the 

 matrix. Mr. Evans has pointed out the resemblance of this 

 cast to one taken by himself from the cranium of a crow, and 

 still more to that of a jay, observing that in the fossil the 

 median line which separates the two hemisj)heres of the 

 brain is visible. 



To conclude, we may learn from this valuable relic how 

 rashly the existence of Birds at the epoch of the Secondary 

 rocks has been questioned, simply on negative evidence; and, 

 secondly, how many new forms may be expected to be 

 brought to light in strata with which we are already best 

 acquainted, to say nothing of the new formations which 

 geologists are continually discovei'ing. 



