548 Henry Woodward — Address to the Geologists Association. 



same author drew attention to the cranium of another large extinct 

 Struthious bird from the London Clay of Sheppey, which he named 

 Dasornis Londinensis. 



The distribution of these great Struthious birds has a deep signifi- 

 cance for the thoughtful pala3ontologist, who cannot fail to see in it a 

 problem worthy of his study. Africa has its Ostrich ; ^ Madagascar 

 had its ^pyornis ; Java and the adjacent islands of the Indian 

 Archipelago the Cassowary ; Australia its Emu and extinct 

 Dromornis; New Zealand its Dinornis; South America its Bfiea; the 

 London Clay its Dasornis Londiniensis. Thus then we have this 

 most ancient type of wingless running birds presenting not merely 

 the greatest range in time but also the widest geographical dis- 

 tribution over the globe of any order of its class. 



M. Alphonse Milne-Edwards has, for twelve years past, carried 

 on a most important series of researches on Fossil Birds. The new 

 facts which he has recorded have to some extent confirmed the 

 results to which a study of the fossil Mammalia and Eeptilia has 

 led, and they have enabled us to appreciate more fully the physical 

 conditions of the globe at these remote epochs. 



Among the chief recent discoveries must be included the very 

 remarkable fossil Bird, the Ichthyornis dispar (Marsh), discovered 

 by Prof. 0. C. Marsh, in 1872, in the Upper Cretaceous beds of 

 Kansas, U.S. It possessed well-developed teeth in both jaws, which 

 were quite numerous, and implanted in distinct sockets. The teeth 

 were small, compressed, and pointed, and all similar in character. 

 Those in the lower jaws number about twenty in each ramus, and 

 are all more or less inclined backward. The series extends over 

 the entire upper margin of the dentary bone, the front tooth being 

 very near the extremity. The maxillary teeth appear to have been 

 equally numerous and essentially the same as those in the mandible. 

 The jaws were, apparently, not encased in a horny sheath. The 

 bones of the wings and legs all conform to the true ornithic type. 

 The vertebr8e were all biconcave, the concavities at each end of the 

 centra being distinct and nearly alike. The tail was not preserved. 

 The bird was about the size of a pigeon. The bones do not appear 

 to have been pneumatic, although most of them are hollow. The 

 species Prof. Marsh considers was carnivorous and probably aquatic, 



A second form discovered has been named Apatornis celer (Marsh). 



Prof. Marsh thinks it probable that ArclicBopteryx possessed teeth 

 and biconcave vertebrae. In confirmation of the former suggestion, 

 it may be mentioned that part of a small detached jaw with teeth 

 may be seen upon the slab containing the skeleton, and possibly may 

 have belonged to it, although referred by Prof. Owen to the '' pre- 

 maxillary bone of a fish."^ 



Prof. Owen has added to his researches another Eocene bird from 



^ The range of tlie African Ostrich was formerly much greater. It extended into 

 Arahia, Persia, and part of India, within the human period, hut has been killed off by 

 man. 



2 Phil. Trans, 1863, p. 33. See also article by H. Woodward in Inldleehml 

 Ohaerver, Dec. 1862, vol. ii. p. 313, and plate ; and by S. J. Mackie, GeologiU, 1863, 

 vol. vi. p. 1. 



