378 Fossil Reptiles and Birds. 



tologists. In America, however, since the discovery that the three- 

 toed footprints in the Connecticut river sandstone were probably all 

 made by Dinosaurian reptiles, no species of birds have been included 

 in the extinct fauna, none having heretofore been described from any 

 American rock. Eecent explorations, however, have shown that 

 remains of this class are not wanting in the later formations of the 

 United States, and that the Cretaceous and Tertiary, especially, con- 

 tain representatives of many interesting forms. 



Bemains of Cretaceous Birds. — Among the fossils under considera- 

 tion are specimens indicating five species of Cretaceous birds, the 

 remains of which were found in the Greensand of New Jersey, and, 

 with a single exception, in the middle marl bed. The specimens are 

 all mineralized, and in the same state of preservation as the bones of 

 the extinct reptiles which occur with them in these deposits. 



The remains described are as follows : — 



(I)'. Laornis Edvardsianus, Marsh, gen. et sp. nov. Shaft and 

 distal extremity of a left tibia, indicating a species apparently of a 

 swimming-bird, nearly as large as the common wild swan. 



(2). Palceotringa littoralis, Marsh, gen. et sp. nov. 



(3). Palceotringa vetus, Marsh, sp. nov. Eemains apparently of 

 two wading birds ; the former about the size of the European 

 Curlew, the latter about as large as the Hudsonian Godwit. 



(4). Telmatornis prisons, Marsh, gen. et sp. nov. 



(5). Telmatornis affinis, Marsh, sp. nov. The remains of the 

 former indicate a bird about the size of the King Kail, those of the 

 latter of a bird considerably smaller. 



Bemains of Tertiary Birds. — The few remains of birds hitherto 

 discovered in the Tertiary deposits of the United States, naturally 

 show a much closer resemblance to recent species than those from 

 the Cretaceous formation. 



(1). Puffi,nus Conradi, Marsh, sp. nov. Discovered in the Miocene 

 of Maryland, by T. A. Conrad, Esq. 



(2). Catarractes antiquus, Marsh, sp. nov. Closely resembling the 

 thick-billed Guillemot : found in Post-tertiary Clays, near Bangor, 

 Maine. 



(3). Grus Raydeni, Maxsh, si^. noY. From the later Tertiary beds 

 of the Niobrara river, indicates unmistakeably a large species of the 

 genus Grus or Crane. 



(4). Graculus Idahensis, Marsh, sp. nov. The species represented 

 by this fossil appears to have been related to the Cormorants, and 

 has been placed provisionally in the genus Graculus. This bird- 

 bone was obtained from a freshwater Tertiary deposit, probably of 

 Pliocene age, on Castle Creek, Idaho Territory, west of the Eocky 

 Mountains. 



In conclusion. Prof. Marsh mentions that he has just received 

 from Prof. P. V. Hayden the distal portion of a feather with the 

 shaft and vane, preserved from a freshwater Tertiary deposit of the 

 Green Eiver group, Wyoming Territory. 



