Br. H. Woodicard — On Wingless Birds. 311 



very frequently, if not constantly, progressed, in an erect position, 

 as seems to have been the habit of Iguanodon and several others. 



(1). The earliest-known Bird with which we are acquainted is still 

 the Archceopteryx. 



At first only a single Bird's feather was found in the Lithogra- 

 phic Slate of Solenhofen and named (in 1861 by H. von Meyer) 

 Archceopteryx lithographica. 



In the same year, the almost entire skeleton of a curious long- 

 tailed bird was discovered by Dr. Haberlein, and described by Prof. 

 A.Wagner, as a new " feathered i?eJ)f^7e " (Griphosaurus prohlema- 

 ticus, A. Wag.). In November, 1862, its Avian affinities were fully 

 established by Prof. Owen (Phil. Trans. 1863, pp. 33-47, plates i.- 

 iv.), and the Bird now forms the type of a new order of Birds, 

 the Saurur^, or long-tailed lizard-like Birds. 



It was shrewdly suspected (from the presence in the slab of a 

 small detached maxillary bone with teeth), that Archfeopteryx 

 departed not only from ordinary birds, in the long and lizard- 

 like tail, but also in having its jaws armed with teeth. The 

 discovery in 1879 of a second specimen of Archceopteryx (now 

 fortunately secured for the Berlin Museum) fully confirms this very 

 important point, and we know now from the researches of Prof. W. 

 Dames in Berlin (Geol. Mag. 1882, p. 566-568),^ that Archceopteryx 

 had from 10 to 12 teeth in the maxillary and pre-maxillary border 

 on each side, and three or more teeth in the lower jaw also. 



This oldest Jurassic Bird presents tlie following peculiarities, viz., 



1. The presence of true teeth in the skull and lower jaw. 



2. The vertebrae biconcave. 



4. Three free digits in each manus, armed with claws. 



5. Pelvic bones separate. 



6. The distal end of the fibula in front of the tibia. 



7. Metatarsals separate or imperfectly united. 



8. These with free metacarpals in the wing, and the 



9. Long lizard-like tail, show clearly that we have in Archceopteryx 

 a most remarkable form, which as a bird has most reptilian affinities. 



(2). The next evidence of Bird-remains consists of some detached 

 bones of a true Bird from the Wealden of Sussex, but they are not 

 sufficiently important to be discussed here.^ 



(3). Equally fragmentary are the remains of the Pelagornis Bar- 

 rettii from the Cambridge Greensand. 



(4). But from the Middle and Upper Cretaceous of New Jersey 

 of Western Kansas and from Texas in the United States, we obtain 

 evidence of no fewer than eight genera and twenty species of Birds 

 oifering most striking and remarkable characters. 



We are indebted to the labours of Prof. 0. C. Marsh for this 

 wonderful addition to our knowledge of the extinct birds of the 



1 See also Geol. Mag. 1884, Decade III. Vol. I. pp. 418-424, Plate XIV. 



2 " Remains of Birds," Mantell {I'alceornis Glijtii), Geol. Trans. 2nd series, 

 vol. V. t. 13. "Wealden, Tilgate Forest. Preserved in the Geological Collection of the 

 British Museum (Natui'al History). 



