318 Mr. P. Lake on Hippopotamus from Barrington. 



Professor Marsh, writing upon Archieopteryx in the Geol. Mag., 

 1881, says: — "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 distin- 

 guished 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. 



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

 from Europe and America, are land birds, while all from the Cre- 

 taceous 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 fiature, especially from the Triassic, which has as yet furnished 

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

 must evidently look to the Pala?ozoic rocks." (0. C. Marsh upon 

 "Jurassic Birds and their Allies," Geol. Mag. 1881, pp. 485-487.) 



yii. woodwakdian museum notes. 



On a Peculiar Form of Hippopotamus major, found at 



Barrington. 



By Philip Lake, Esq., St. John's College, Cambridge. 



IN the gravel at Barrington, about seven miles S.S.W. of Cam- 

 bridge, numerous remains of Hippopotamus have been found, 

 associated with Hhinoceros, Bison, Cervus, etc. A description of this 

 gravel and its included fossils has been given by Mr. Fisher.' But 

 since Mr. Fisher's paper was written, the number of bones and teeth 

 found has been very largely increased. Most of these remains have 

 been deposited in the Woodward ian Museum, Cambridge. 



Among the Hippopotamus bones were six more or less perfect 

 lower jaws. Five of these were typical specimens of if. major; but 

 the sixth differs in character from the rest in several points, so 

 much so in fact, that with a less perfect series of remains, it would 

 perhaps have been described as a different species. 



The jaw in question is tolerably perfect. The front part is com- 

 plete ; and the whole of the right ramus is present except the 

 posterior lower portion. The condyle of this side, and also the 

 anterior part of the crochet, are preserved. Only the front half of the 

 left ramus of the jaw, as far as the first true molar, is complete ; 

 but we have also the condyle of this side, though the intermediate 

 parts are missing. The incisors and canines are all present. On 

 the right side the teeth left are the last premolar and the last two 

 molars ; on the left side, the last premolar and the first molar. 



The chief points in which this jaw differs from an ordinary jaw 

 of H. major are the very small size of the canines and incisors ; the 

 extent of the contraction and the small depth behind these ; and the 

 generally more feeble character of the jaw. 



1 Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. 1879, vol. xxxv. p. 670. 



