150 A Retrospect of Palceontology for Forty Years. 



Boulenger and Lydekker called attention to a curious case of 

 "the WHScientific use of the imagination," in which the Abbe G. 

 Smets, in Belgium, figured and described some remains of a new- 

 Dinosaur, which, upon examination, proved to be merely a mass of 

 fossil wood. 



Lydekker figured and described part of a left pectoral paddle of 

 Ichthyosaurus intermedtus from the Lower Lias of Barrow-on-Soar, in 

 which the integument is preserved, as in a paddle figured and 

 described by Owen in 1841. In 1891 the same author delineated 

 and noticed a most perfect skeleton of Ichthyosaurus tennirostris, 

 obtained by Alfi-ed Gillett from the Lower Lias of Street, Somerset, 

 and presented by him to the British Museum (Natural History), 

 where it still holds a premier place among its fellows. 



Dr. C W. Andrews, in 1885, gave a note on the skull of 

 Keraterpeton Gahani, Huxley, a small Labyrinthodont from the 

 Coal-measures of Staffordshire, originally described by Huxley from 

 the Kilkenny Colliery, Ireland. In the same year he described the 

 skeleton of a young Plesiosaur from the Oxford Clay of Peterborough, 

 and in 1896 the pelvis of a large Plesiosaur [Cryytoclidus oxoniensis)^ 

 also forming part of the Leeds Collection, 



In 1895 Andrews discussed the Stereornithes, a group of extinct 

 birds from Patagonia, and made some interesting remarks on the 

 recurrence of flightless or wingless birds iu groups, as those of South 

 America and of New Zealand, and the Gastoruithida3 in the Eocene of 

 Europe. He contended that there seemed no reason why such groups 

 of flightless birds should not arise at any period and in any region, 

 providing the conditions of life were favourable. In 1S9G he noticed 

 the nearly complete skeleton of Aptornis defossor, a gigantic flightless 

 rail from New Zealand, of which an excellent figure was given, 

 followed later by an account of Diaphorapteryx Ilaichinsi, Forbes, 

 a large extinct rail from the Chatham Islands, 500 miles east of New 

 Zealand. All these flightless birds shared the same fate as the Dodo 

 and Dinornis, having been eaten up by man. 



Another interesting insular flightless bird was described by 

 Andrews in 1897, the JEpyornis Eildebrandti from Madagascar,. 

 a restored skeleton of which was set up in the British Museum 

 (Natural History), from remains obtained by Dr. C. I. Forsyth Major 

 at Sirabe, Central Madagascar. 



Lastly, in 1899 he figured the nearly complete skeleton of Dinornis 

 maximns, obtained by C. A. Ewen near Invercargill (South Island), 

 New Zealand, one of the most genuine specimens obtained ; those 

 sent home by the late Sir Julius von Haast having been mostly 

 composite skeletons, not belonging to one bird. 



Professor Seeley gave in 1887 some interesting notes on Loui& 

 Dollo's work on the Dinosauria of Bernissart, especially in reference ta 

 the Iguanodon Bernissariensis and the relation of Dinosaurs to Birds. 

 Mr. Dollo also contributed an article on some Belgian fossil reptiles, 

 with special reference to Eyhcochampsa and Ikruissartia. In 1888- 

 the same author wrote on the humerus of Euclastes, and discussed 

 the relationship of the Propleuridas with the Cheloniae. 



