FROM THE RED CRAG, 



367 



Pig. 2. 



of the Royal College of Surgeons, and find the resemblance so 

 exact, even down to the most minute ridges and grooves, that there 

 can be no reasonable doubt as to 

 their belonging to the same genus. 

 They indicate a species intermediate 

 in size between the largest examples 

 of D. exidcms and the smaller D. 

 melanoplirys and D. cJilororhyncha ; 

 but it would be unsafe to make any 

 attempt at specific determination. It 

 may be added that an imperfect wing- 

 bone of a large bird from the Coral- 

 line Crag in the Museum of Practical 

 Geology may perhaps belong to the 

 form under consideration. The un- 

 rolled condition of the specimens in- 

 dicates that they are not " derived " 

 fossils ; and Mr. Alfred Bell informs 

 me that they were obtained in com- 

 pany with a very fine -Rhinoceros- tooth 

 (which, he thinks, may be R. etruscus) 

 from a sandy bed immediately over- 

 lying the shelly E,ed Crag at Foxhall, 

 which, I am informed, is regarded by 

 some geologists as part of the Red 

 Crag, but by others as somewhat 

 newer. Mr. Bell also informs me that 

 the genus of these bones was deter- 

 mined many years ago by Mr. Gerrard, 

 of the British Museum, although no 

 record of the determination was pub- 

 lished. 



The genus Diomedea is represented 

 at the present day by several species ; 

 but I am unacquainted with any pre- 

 viously described fossil form*. As 

 J), ecculans is found throughout the 

 Southern Ocean and the sea wash- 

 ing the coasts of Asia to the south 

 of Behring's Straits, there is no reason 

 why the rang'e of the genus should not 

 formerly have embraced the i^^orth 

 Sea. 



Discussion. 



The President remarked on the fragmentary character of the Red- 

 Crag Yertebrata and their frequently rolled condition, and expressed 



* Pelagornis from the Miocene of Armagnac (G-ers) has been thought to be 

 allied to Diomedea, but it is regarded by Milne-Edwards (' Oiseaux Fossiles de 

 la France,' vol. i p. 272) as more nearly related to Sula. The tarso-metatarsus 

 iappears to be unknown. 



3 



Diomedea, sp. 



The right tarso-metatarsus (A) 

 and first phalangeal of the 

 fourth digit (B), from a sandy 

 bed at the top of the Red Crag 

 at Foxhall. Natural size. 



