A. Champernowne — Position of Somalonotus Beds. 487 



As the Dinosauria are now generally considered the nearest allies 

 to Birds, it was interesting to find in those investigated many points 

 of resemblance to the latter class. Compsognathus, for example, 

 shows in its extremities a striking similarity to Arcli(BOjptenjx. The 

 three-clawed digits of the manus correspond closely with those of 

 that genus ; although the bones are of different proportions. The 

 hind feet also have essentially the same structure in both. The 

 vertebree, however, and the pelvic bones of Compsognathus differ 

 materially from those of Archceopteryx, and the two forms are in 

 reality widely separated. While examining the Compsognathus 

 skeleton, I detected in the abdominal cavity the remains of a small 

 reptile which had not been previously observed. The size and 

 position of this inclosed skeleton would imply that it was a foetus, 

 but it may possibly have been the young of the same species ; or an 

 allied form, that had been swallowed. No similar instance is known 

 among the Dinosaurs. 



A point of resemblance of some importance between Birds and 

 Dinosaurs is the clavicle. All birds have these bones, but they have 

 been considered wanting in Dinosaurs. Two specimens of Iguanodon, 

 in the British Museum, however, show that these elements of the 

 pectoral arch were present in that genus, and in a diagram before 

 you one of these bones is represented. Some other Dinosauria 

 possess clavicles, but in several families of this subclass, as I regard 

 it, they appear to be wanting. 



The nearest approach to Birds now known would seem to be in 

 the very small Dinosaurs from the American Jurassic. In some of 

 these the separate bones of the skeleton cannot be distinguished 

 with certainty from those of Jurassic Birds, if the skull is wanting, 

 and even in this part the resemblance is striking. Some of these 

 diminutive Dinosaurs were perhaps arboreal in habit, and the 

 difference between them and the Birds that lived with them may 

 have been at first mainly one of feathers, as I have shown in my 

 Memoir on the Odontornithes, published during the past year. 



It is an interesting fact that all the Jurassic birds known, both 

 from Eui'ope and America, are land birds, while all from the Ci'eta- 

 ceous are aquatic forms. The four oldest known birds, moreover, 

 differ more widely from each other than do any two recent birds. 

 These facts show that we may hope for most important discoveries 

 in the future, especially from the Triassic, which has as j'et furnished 

 no authentic trace of birds. For the primitive forms of this class 

 we must evidently look to the Palaeozoic rocks. 



III. — Note on a Find of Homalonotus in Eed Beds at Tokquay. 

 By A. Champernowne, M.A., F.G.S. 

 ^HIS fine specimen, which has been so faithfully rendered in 

 two views by Miss G. M. Woodward, was found by nie, 

 together with portions of other individuals of the genus, in some 

 red finely-sandy or silty beds, interstratified with grits, in the 

 cutting of the new road on the eastern side of Lincombe Hill 

 at Torquay. The beds are traversed by a coarse cleavage dipping 



