Henry Woodivard — Address to the Oeologists' Associatmi, 649 



the London Clay of Sheppey,' to wliicli his attention had been drawn 

 by Mr. W. Davies, of the British Museum, who also worked it out 

 with his own hands. 



This bird, wdiioh he has named Odontoptenjx toliapiciis, is rendered 

 remarkable by the very prominent denticulation of the alveolar 

 margins of the jaws, to which its generic appellation refers. 



The denticulations are intrinsic parts of the bone bearing them, 

 and are of two sizes, numerous smaller denticles occupying the 

 spaces between the larger ones, which are about half an inch apart. 



When perfect the skull was probably five to six inches in length, 

 but the anterior extremity is wanting. 



Prof. Owen concludes Odontopferyx to have belonged to or near 

 the AnatidcB, and that it was web-footed and a fish-eating bird, for 

 which its serrated jaws would admirably adapt it. 



As we have not the other parts of the bird, but the skull alone, 

 it would be presumptuous to surmise as to the presence or absence 

 of other modifications beside the pseudo-teeth with which the jaws 

 are armed. 



From the extreme rarity of all terrestrial animal-remains preserved 

 in a fossil state, it may justly be concluded that many more such 

 archaic birds, having reptilian modifications, actually existed in the 

 Mesozoic epoch, although they may possibly never be discovered by 

 geologists. 



Much of the recently acquired knowledge of the huge Dinosauria 

 of our own Secondary rocks has resulted from the earnest labours 

 of Professor Phillips, bestowed upon the remarkable series of remains 

 in the Oxford Museum. 



Mr. J. W. Hulke, F.E.S., has likewise devoted much time and care 

 to the examination of Kijpsilophodon a genus of Dinosaurs closely re- 

 lated to Iguanodon, the detailed anatomy of which he has now in great 

 measure completed. Under the name of Cetiosaurus Jiumero-cristatus 

 he has also described a gigantic humerus of a Dinosaur from the 

 Kimmeridge Clay, Weymouth, rivalling in size the largest humerus 

 in the Oxford Museum. This specimen is about to be secured for 

 the British Museum. 



We know certainly now that the Megaloscmrus, that huge car- 

 nivorous lizard, perhaps 30 feet long, which ranged from the Lias 

 to the Wealden, had strong but not massive hind-limbs, and short 

 reduced fore-limbs, five anchylosed sacral vertebrte (Owen), the 

 ilium, ischium and pubis, slender and bird-like, as in the Ostrich ; 

 the scapula and coracoid resembling those of the Apteryx. From 

 all these the conclusion of Professor Phillips agrees with Profs. 

 Owen and Huxley in viewing the Megalosaurus, " not as a ground- 

 crawler, like the alligator, but moving with free steps, chiefly if not 

 solely, on hind-limbs, and claiming a curious analogy, if not some 

 degree of affinity, v/ith the Ostrich." - 



^ See the Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. 1873, vol. xxix. p. 511, pi. xvi. and xvii., and 

 abstract in Geol. Mag. for August last, p. 376. 



2 "Geology of Oxford and tlie Valley of the Thames," by John rhillips, M.A., 

 F.E,.S., F.G.S., etc., 1871, p. 196. 



