440 THE WONDERS OF GEOLOGY. Lect. IV, I 



head than is observable in the known humeri of Pterodac- \ 

 tyles ;* and it appears to me impossible to pronounce, 

 with any certainty, as to the true character of the animal to 

 w r hich it belonged, till other specimens are obtained. f 



45. Birds of the Wealden. — In describing the fossil 

 remains of the mammalia of the eocene or ancient tertiary 

 epoch, it was stated that species of several existing genera 

 of birds were contemporaneous with the palaeotheria and 

 other extinct pachyderms, but that no vestiges of this class 

 had been found in the chalk, or in strata of an earlier date. 

 In my Fossils of Tilgate Forest, I mentioned, that after 

 selecting from the bones which seemed to belong to animals 

 capable of progression through the air, those which ap- 

 peared to be referable to the Pterodactyles, several remained 

 which bore so striking a resemblance to those of waders 

 that I ventured to refer them to that order of birds ; an 

 opinion which was corroborated by Baron Cuvier, to whom 

 I submitted them on his last visit to England, in 1830. 

 Subsequently, Professor Owen instituted a rigid exami- 

 nation of these bones, and satisfied himself that some of 

 them unquestionably belonged to a species of wading bird.J 

 More recently, this distinguished physiologist has seen 

 reason to alter his opinion ; and upon finding that the 

 supposed tarso metatarsal bone is a humerus (a?ite, p. 439), 

 now affirms that all the bones of the wealden referable to 

 flying animals, are reptilian. With the view of deter- 

 mining if possible this difficult problem, Mr. Bowerbank 

 instituted a microscopical investigation of the intimate 

 structure of bone in birds and reptiles ; and has commu- 



* See Geol. Trans, vol. v. PL XIII. Jig. 3. 



f See Prof. Owen on supposed fossil bones of Birds ; Geol. Journal, 

 1846, p. 96 ; and my remarks in the same work, p. 104, on the Fossil 

 remains of Birds in the Wealden ; the figure accompanying my 

 paper is most inaccurately represented by the lignograph. 



X See Medals of Creation, vol. ii. p. 805. 



