ANTHROPOLOGY. iii 
jaws were brought to light, so that there cannot now be a reasona- 
ble doubt that all are parts of the same bird. The possession of 
teeth and biconcave vertebræ, although the rest of the skeleton is 
entirely avian in type, obviously implies. that-these remains cannot 
be placed in the present groups. of birds, and hence a new sub- 
class, Odontornithes, is proposed for them. The order may be 
called Ichthyornithes. 
The species lately described by the writer as Ichthyornis celer, 
also had biconcave vertebra, and probably teeth. It proves to be 
generically distinct from the type species of this group, and hence 
may be named Apatornis celer Marsh. It was about the same size 
as Ichthyornis dispar, but of more slender proportions. The 
logical horizon of both species is essentially the same. The 
only remains of them at present known are in the museum of Yale 
College. 
The fortunate discovery of these interesting fossils is an im- 
portant gain to palzontology, and does much to break down the 
old distinctions between birds and reptiles, which the Archzeop- 
teryx has so materially diminished. It is quite probable that that 
bird, likewise, had teeth and biconcave vertebrae, with its free 
metacarpals and elongated tail. — O. C. Marsa, reprinted from 
advance sheets of the American Journal of Science and Arts for 
February, 1 
ANTHROPOLOGY. 
CHANGE IN THE Form or SKULLS WITH AGE.—The hypothesis, 
at one time so universally held, says Virchow, that all longheaded 
skulls were Celtic, may now be taken as an example of how easy 
it is to overstep the mark, and of the caution that should be exer- 
cised in anthropological inquiries. Any conclusions that may be 
drawn from the forms of skulls of early times are quite open to 
question. The influence of culture has hitherto been too little 
Considered. Schaffhausen has observed that the growth of the 
skull continues to a later period than was formerly supposed, and 
that it increases in breadth in old age. This explains how it 
happens that so many more of the long and narrow skulls have 
been traced to earlier times, and that the proportion of the broader 
ones increases in the quaternary epoch. In the case of the broad 
skulls the brain has usually attained fuller development, while the 
most remarkable long and narrow skulls are to be met with among 
