■'534 STIIUCTUKE AND CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS 



of the fact that it existed at about the same period. Lao- 

 pteryx priscus is known from a skull fragment from the upper 

 Jurassic of Wyoming at about the same horizon as the 

 ' Atlantosaurus beds.' It was about the size of the heron 

 (Ardea herodias). The back part alone of the skull has b-een 

 found, and the remains show that the head of the quadrate 

 was undivided, as inratites (except Apteryx). Close by was 

 found a single tooth which may or may not have belonged 

 to it. Maesh ^ considers the bird to have been ratite in its 

 characters. 



' ' Disco%-ery of a Fossil Bird in the Jurassic of Wyoming,' Amcr. Journ. 

 Sci. xxi. (1881), p. 341. 



