50 GEOLOGY. 
Marsh), and numerous remains of Pterodactyls. The new fossils 
will soon be described by Professor Marsh. 
Norice or A New and REMARKABLE Fossi Brrp.— One of the 
most interesting of recent discoveries in paleontology is the skel- 
eton of a fossil bird, found, during the past summer in the upper 
Cretaceous shale of Kansas, by Prof. B. F. Mudge, who has kindly 
sent the specimen to me for examination. The remains indicate 
an aquatic bird, about as large as a pigeon, and differing widely 
from all known birds, in having biconcave vertebre. The cervical, 
dorsal and caudal vertebrae, preserved, all show this character, 
the ends of the centra resembling those in Plesiosaurus. The 
rest of the skeleton presents no marked deviation from the ordi- _ 
nary avian type. The wings were large in proportion to the pos- 
terior extremities. The humerus is 58°6™™ in length, with the 
radial crest strongly developed. The femur is small, and has the 
proximal end compressed transversely. The tibia is slender, and 
44:5™™ long. Its distal end is incurved, as in swimming birds, but 
has no supratendinal bridge. This species may be called Jchthy- 
ornis dispar. A more complete déscription will appear in an early 
number of this Journal.—O. C. Marsun, American Journal of Sci- 
ence and Arts. 
KNOWLEDGE OF PETROLEUM IN PENNSYLVANIA IN 1771.—On 
page 638 of the October number of the Naruratist is a notice of 
the fact that petroleum was known to exist in Pennsylvania in the 
last century, and the date given was about 1789. I have in my 
“* Kalm’s Travels in North America” in which is a map 
s vpibiished according to act of Parliament, March 7, 1771,” upon 
which I find marked “petroleum” on the Alleghany River about 
eight miles above the mouth of French Creek. The locality is 
marked with a little cross (+) on the east bank of the river, which 
would put it very nearly opposite to the mouth of Oil Creek as 
now known. I also find on the same map, in what is now Ohio, in 
the vicinity of the present location of New Philadelphia in Tusca- 
= rawas County, “Coals and whetstones:” and on the Hocking 
River near the southern portion of the state is found the word 
“coals.” 
~ Kalm makes no mention of either coals or petroleum in these 
-~ localities; in fact, he did not himself travel so far to the west, but 
= fact of these names being on a map published in 1771 shows 
