242 Miss M. C. Foley — Enclosures of Glass in Basalt 



a single bird, the missing ones have been replaced by portions 

 of the other skeletons. 



A figure of the restored skeleton of this species was published 

 by Owen, but it was largely conjectural, and as far as the vertebral 

 column is concerned, is merely a magnified Ocijdromns, differing 

 in many respects from the present specimen, notably in the larger 

 number of vertebra? bearing free ribs. It is of course possible that 

 some may have been omitted, but examination of the column as 

 a whole does not bear out this supposition, the various processes 

 undergoing quite gradual modification in form and size when 

 followed from one region to another. In the cervical region the 

 most remarkable character is the gi-eat size of the anterior vertebra?, 

 resulting from the enormous development of the various ridges and 

 processes. The peculiar long, slender coracoids are anchylosed 

 with the much reduced sternum ; by Owen, Fiirbringer, and 

 others, these bones were referred to Cnemiornis, but their true 

 nature has been pointed out by Forbes and Lydekker. The figure 

 shows the probable position of the scapula in relation to the 

 coracoid, the coraco-scapular angle being very obtuse, as in most 

 flightless birds ; the humerus is proportionately small, and its 

 pectoral crest is reduced to a mere tubercle. 



The large pelvis and powerful hind-limb indicate a bird well 

 adapted for " cursorial," and probably, as Owen suggested, for 

 " rasorial " habits. 



On a future occasion it is proposed to give a detailed account 

 of the more important characters of this skeleton. 



II. — On Enclosures of Glass in a Basalt near Bertrich, in 



THE ElFEL. 



By Mary C. Foley, B.Sc. 



DURING a short holiday spent last summer in the Eifel, I was 

 much struck with the occurrence of an extremely vesicular, 

 dark-green glass in the lava at Bertrich, the most southerly point 

 of the district at which traces of volcanic action are to be met with. 

 It lies in the valley of the Uessbach, a little stream that flows into 

 the Alf, a tributary of the Moselle. In all probability the ground 

 on which Bertrich now stands was at one time covered with lava, 

 and if the course of the Uessbach be followed for about a mile and 

 a half above the town, thick patches of it may be clearly seen on 

 either side of the present bed of the stream, all traces of it ceasing 

 higher up the valley. It is well exposed in a quarry known as the 

 Miihlrech, on the left bank of the Uessbach immediately below the 

 high road to Kenfus, and about a mile above Bertrich. Here 

 the lava exhibits a fine section about 90 feet high, but it is being 

 rapidly cleared away for road metal. The quarry lies immediately 

 at the mouth of a side-valley called the Miillischwiese, Avhich 

 commences near the foot of the Falkenlei, one of the three craters 

 that overshadow Bertrich, and gently slopes down for a distance of 

 about three-quarters of a mile into the valley of the Uessbach. The 



