154 Geological Society : — 



molars correspond with those of the genus Halitlierium, in which 

 the author considered that this fossil found its nearest ally in H. 

 Schinzi, Kaup, from the Miocene of the Rhine Yalley, a formation 

 in which several of the animals of the Red-Crag bone-bed are known 

 to occur. The differences, however, especially the larger size of the 

 cranium, in the Crag specimen, and the larger size of its teeth, 

 induce the author to regard it as a distinct species, which he pro- 

 poses to name Halitlierium Canliami. 



2. " rTew Pacts bearing on the Inquiry concerning Forms inter- 

 mediate between Birds and Reptiles." By Henry Woodward, Esq., 

 F.R.S., F.G.S. 



The author, after giving a brief sketch of the Sauropsida, and 

 referring especially to those points in which the Pterosaurians 

 approach and differ from birds, spoke of the fossil birds and land 

 reptiles which he considered to link together more closely the 

 Sauropsida as a class. 



The most remarkable recent discoveries of fossil birds are : — 



I. Arcliceopteryx macrura (Owen), a Mesozoic type, which has a 

 peculiar reptilian-like tail, composed of twenty free and apparently 

 unanchylosed cylindrical vertebrae, each supporting a pair of quill- 

 feathers, the last fifteen vertebra) having no transverse processes, 

 and tapering gradually to the end. 



II. IchUiyoniis clisjoar (Marsh), discovered by Prof. 0. C. Marsh 

 in 1872 in the Upper Cretaceous beds of Kansas, U. S. It possessed 

 well-developed teeth in both jaws. The teeth are set in distinct 

 sockets, and are all more or less inclined backwards. 



III. Odontopteryx toliapica (Owen), an Eocene bird from the 

 London Clay of Sheppej 7 , the skull of which alone has been dis- 

 covered, has very prominent denticulations of the alveolar margins 

 of the jaws. 



The author then referred to the Dinosauria, some of which he 

 considered to present points of structure tending towards the so- 

 called wingless birds. 



I. Compsognathus longipes (A. Wagner), from the Oolite of Soleu- 

 hofen, is about two feet in length, having a small head with toothed 

 jaws, supported on a long and slender neck. 



The iliac bones are prolonged in front of and behind the aceta- 

 bulum ; the pubes are long and slender. The bones of the fore 

 limbs are small, and were probably furnished with two clawed 

 digits. The hind limb is very large, and disposed as in birds, the 

 femur being shorter than the tibia. The proximal division of the 

 tarsus is anchylosed with the tibia as in birds. 



II. The huge carnivorous Megalosaurus, ranging from the Lias to 

 the Wealden, had strong but not massive hind limbs, and short 

 reduced fore limbs ; it moved with free steps, chiefly if not solely 

 on its hind limbs, which is true also of the vegetable-eating lizards 

 of the Mesozoic rocks. 



The author next drew attention to the Frilled Lizard of Australia, 

 Chkimydosaurus j&ngii (Gray), which has its fore limbs very much 

 smaller than, the hind limbs, p,n& has been observed Bot only to sit 



