Present distribution of the so called Ralitae. 145 



(T have added the few t^-enera and one division founded on later 

 discoveries but have not altered Dr. G a do w' s sequence.) 



Dr. Gadow then proceeds to unite under one comprehensive 

 head all the known Eocene Landbirds with stronglv developed 

 legs and apparently incapable of flight thus: 



2. Stereornithes. 



South American 



Broiitornis, Stereornis, Patagorn-is, Mesewhriornis, 

 PhororhacoSj &c. 



North American 



Dyatrima, Laopteryx, and Barornis. 



European 



liemiornis, Dasornis, Gastornis, Macrornis, Megalornis 

 and certain marine forms as follows. 



Division II. Neornithes Odotitolcae. 



I. Hesperornithes. 



Hesperornis and Baptornis. 

 2. Enaliornithes. 



Enaliornis. 



As far as I can gather from Dr. Gadow 's volume of birds 

 in "Dr. Bronn's Klassen und Ordnungen des Thierreichs" this 

 author at that time considered that the forms he united as 

 Stereornithes were, if not the actual ancestral forms of the 

 Ratitae, at least more nearly allied to them than to the rest of 

 the Avian class. 



In 1896 after the publication by Dr. C. W. Andrews of his 

 "Remarks on the Stereornithes" (Ibis 1896 p. i — 12) Dr. Gadow 

 wrote to the Ibis to the eftect that he had quite changed his 

 opinions and was convinced that his Group ''Stereornithes'' could 

 not be upheld as a classificatory unit. Of the South American 

 forms included by him in the above order, the only one he thought 

 was related to the true socalled Ratitae was Mesemhriornis which 

 he considered was a forerunner of the true Rheidae. 



I now come to the opinions expressed by Fürbringer on 

 Pages 1539 — 1558 of his monumental work and which we must 

 accept as his final conclusions. To sum up what he says in a 

 few words, he comes to the decision that the Ratitae as a Subclass 

 sharply opposed to the Carinatae cannot be maintained for they 

 dift'er more in their non-secondary characters from each other than 

 do the Hesperornithes and Aptery gif ormes from their respectively 

 nearest related Carinates and Ratites. He therefore proceeds to 

 divide them into separate Orders thus 



v. Internationaler Ornithologen-Kongreß. 10 



