Miscellaneous. 75 



of the most interesting species that I have ever found in this rich 

 deposit. Some galHnaceous birds of a large size, and in this respect 

 hardly inferior to the peacocks and true pheasants, also inhabited 

 the shores of the little lake, where the deposits accumulated which 

 now form the hill of Sansan ; numerous passerine birds, resembling 

 the Bengalis and Senegalis, frequented the margins of the waters ; 

 lastly, the number of species was not less than 35, and certainly new 

 excavations will not fail to make known more. 



The marine faluns of the Loire have only furnished me with a few 

 species of birds. I have been able, however, to recognize a cormo- 

 rant almost as large as that which now lives on our shores, a goose a 

 little smaller than the bernicle, a heron, and a pheasant. 



The beds of gypsum in the environs of Paris contain numerous 

 impressions of skeletons of birds ; and it is to be observed that the 

 animals of that period deviated more from the zoological forms 

 which exist at the present day. Thus, despite the unwillingness I 

 feel, especially in palseontological studies, to increase the already too 

 large number of generic groups,! have been obliged to form new genera 

 for many among them. Thus the Cn/ptoniis avtiqwus was nearer 

 the hornbills than any known type ; Laurillardia and Palcegithalus 

 belong to the order of passerine birds, but were quite distinct from all 

 those now living. The Pala'ortyges are gallinaceous, of the size of 

 a quail, but very different from those birds. Gypsornis is the giant 

 of the family Rallidae ; it must almost have attained the size of a 

 stork. Agnopterus approaches the flamingoes, although it displays 

 some characters peculiar to itself. 



The singularity of the forms of these Eocene birds makes us 

 doubly regret not knowing those of the Cretaceous period. Unfor- 

 tunately there exist only a very small number of freshwater depo- 

 sits dating from that period ; therefore it is not astonishing that we 

 have as yet discovered only very few traces of terrestrial animals 

 which lived during the deposition of these important strata. Perhaps 

 new zoological forms will be discovered there filling up the immense 

 gap which exists between the Jurassic ArcJiceopteryx and the typical 

 birds of the Tertiary epoch. — Comptes Rendus, April 15, 1872, 

 pp. 1030-1034. 



Migrations of the GraptoUtes. By H. Aileyne Nicholson, M.D., 

 r.R.S.E., F.G.S., Professor of Natural History and Botany in 

 University College, Toronto. 



The author commenced by stating that the occurrence of the same 

 species of marine animals in deposits in distant areas is now gene- 

 rally regarded as evidence that such deposits are not strictly contem- 

 poraneous, but rather that a migration from one area to another has 

 taken place ; this migration he thought would probably in many 

 cases be accompanied by modification. Applying these principles to 

 the Graptolites, he endeavoured to show in what directions their 

 migrations may have taken place. 



He excluded from the family Graptolitidae the genera Dictyonema, 

 Dendrograpsus, Callograjpsus, and Ptilograpsus, and stated that the 



