0, C. Marsh— Characters of the Odontornithes. 85 
reek series, an 
localities are in Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico. Amon 
the associate mammals are the equine Hoheppus, and the suilline 
Helohyus, showing clearly that we must look to. Cretaceous 
strata at least for the parent form of the Ungulates. 
Yale College, June 12th, 1877. 
the Fortieth Parallel, under Clarence King, the Vermillion 
C ; the Wasatch group. e known 
Art. XII.—Characters of the Odontornithes, with Notice of a new 
allied Genus; by Professor O. C. MarsH. With plate V. 
first sight to indicate the near affinity of Hesperornis with the 
Colymbide, proves to be only an adaptation; while the skull, 
scapular arch, and other important portions show unmistak- 
ably that the nearest existing allies of the genus are the Fatite, 
or Ostrich group, the most reptilian of modern birds. The 
characters that show this affinity are nearly identical with those 
laid down to distinguish the Fatite by Huxley in his impor- 
tant memoir on the Classification of Birds.| They may be 
briefly stated as follows: 
l. The sternum is devoid of a crest. 
2. The long axes of the adjacent parts of the scapula and 
coracoid are parallel, or identical. : 
€ posterior ends of the palatines, and the anterior ends 
of the pterygoid are very imperfectly, or not at all, articu- 
lated with the basisphenoid rostrum. 
4. Strong “basipterygoid” processes, arising from the body of 
the basisphenoid, and not from the rostrum, articulate with 
facets which are situated nearer the posterior than the anterior 
ends of the inner edges of the pterygoid bones. 
5. The upper, or proximal, articular head of the quadrate 
bone is not divided into two distinct facets. 
* This Journal. vol. x, p. 403, Nov., 1875. 
t Proceedings Zoological Society, 1867, p. 448. 
