88 



THE HUMMING BIRD. 



[November i, 1891 



Many of the mammalia found fossil are extinct, but 

 a very large number belong to forms closely related 

 to, or even identical with, existitig terrestrial orders, 

 such as the cat tribe, "lion and tiger," the dog, wolf, 

 seal, bear and hyaena, the rhinoceros, horse, elephant, 

 pig, etc. The deposits which have yielded the 

 largest proportion of these remains are met with in 

 caves and fissures in limestone rocks ; in old lake and 

 river valley basins, shell marls and peat deposits, 

 ancient forest beds covered up and submerged, and 

 delta deposits formed in the estuaries of great rivers. 



Primates. — Man and Monkeys. 

 In Table Case No. 1 are placed various human 

 remains from Kent's Cavern and other caves ; also 

 remains of Quadrumana, or Monkeys. In Pier Case 

 No. 2 is placed the fossil human skeleton brought from 

 Guadaloupe, in the West Indies, by Sir Alexander 

 Cochrane, and presented to the Museum by the 

 Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. 



Carnivora {Flesh-eating Animals'). 



In Table Case No. 2, Pier Case No. 3, are exhibited 

 the remains of a large number of carnivorous animals, 

 chiefly from caves, representing the Lion, Lynx, 

 Hysena, Wolf, Fox, Dog, Badger, Glutton, Otter, 

 Weasel and many others. The skull of the Great 

 Sabre-toothed Tiger, Machaerodus neogaeus, is very 

 remarkable for the enormous development of the 

 canine teeth. 



In Pier Case No. 4 are exhibited the skeleton of the 

 great Cave Bear, Ursus spelaeus from the Pleistocene 

 cave deposits of Lozère, France. 



In Table Case No. 3 are exhibited remains of the 

 Grizzly Bear (?) Ursus horribilis, from caves in 

 England and other countries ; also Marine Carnivora 

 (Seals and Walruses), comprising a good series of the 

 tusks of a large extinct Walrus ( Trichechus Huxleyi), 

 from the red crag of Suffolk. 



PROBOSCIDEA (Elephants). 



The cases on the north side of this gallery are 

 nearly entirely devoted to the exhibition of the 

 largest series of the fossil remains of the Elephants, 

 Mastodon and Dinotherium. This collection of skulls, 

 tusks and models of all the principal forms is very 

 extensive (probably the largest brought together in 

 any museum), and very valuable. 



Among the most remarkable fossil remains ex- 

 hibited in Table Cases No. 5 — 15 a, I will mention 

 the restoration of Tinoceras ingens Marsh, extinct 

 herbivorous animal ; a fine series of casts, skulls and 

 bones of the Dinocerata, presented by Professor 

 Marsh ; the incisor teeth, skull, lower jaw, and some 

 limb bones of an animal named Toxodon, probably 

 larger than a horse, but having incisor teeth in its jaw. 

 Cast of the skeleton of Plienacodus primaevus, Cope, 

 skull and lower jaw of Rhinocerus leptorhinus Owen ; 

 R. megalodus, Cope and other extinct species of 

 Rhinoceros ; Cast of the skeleton of Brontops 

 robustus ; a restoration of the skeleton of Palaeo- 

 therium, a form between the rhinoceros, tapir and horse. 



The deer tribe, Cervidae are well represented both 

 by entire skeletons in the centre of the gallery, and 

 also by a fine series of detached heads and antlers of 

 various species upon the pier-cases. 



The most remarkable is the gigantic Irish deer, 

 Megaceros giganteus, of which remains have been met 

 with, in considerable numbers, in Ireland. 



Among Sirenia the skeleton of the living Manatee, 

 Manatus americanus found in Central and South 

 America, and that of Rhytina gigas or Sea-cow are 

 very interesting, as' also the fossil remains of Cetacea ; 

 the restored skeleton of Scelidotherivm leptocephalum, 

 Owen ; and the skeleton of the extinct gigantic 

 Armadillo, Glyptodon clavipes, Owen. 



AVES (BIRDS). 



Among the birds, the ArcJia'eptoryx macrura seems 

 to be the oldest fossil b : rd at present discovered. 

 This remarkable long-tailed bird was obtained from 

 the lithographic stone of Eichstadt, near Solen- 

 hofen, in Bavaria. In the same Table Case No. 13 

 are exhibited twenty-six casts of bones of the extra- 

 ordinary Hesperornis regalis, a large toothed bird, 

 measuring nearly six feet from the extremity of the 

 bill to the end of the toes. 



Along with this remarkable form of toothed wingless 

 birds, there is another, named by Professor Marsh 

 Ichthyornis, which had well-developed powerful wings 

 aud a strongly kernel sternum. Its jaws were armed 

 with teeth, placed in distint sockets, and its vertebrae, 

 unlike those of other birds, were biconcave, as is the 

 case in a few recent and in many extinct reptiles. 



The next oldest birds whose remains are preserved 

 in this case are from the London clay of the Isle ot 

 Sheppey. 



One of these, Dasornis londiniensis, represented by 

 a single imperfect skull, was as large as an ostrich and 

 probably closely related to that bird. 



Table Case No. 12 and Wall Cases Nos. 23 and 24 

 are mostly occupied with remains of the great extinct 

 wingless bird the Moa or Dinornis from New 

 Zealand. Professor Owen has described no fewer 

 than eighteen species of these extinct running birds 

 varying in size from three to upwards or ten feet in 

 height, and differing greatly in their relative forms, 

 some being tall and slender and probably swift-footed, 

 like the modern ostritch, whilst others were short and 

 very stout-limbed as in the specimen of Dinornis 

 elephantopus, which was undoubtedly a bird of great 

 strength, but very heavy footed. 



Five nearly entire skeletons of Dinornis are placed 

 in glass-cases P., R., and S. 



In the wall-case, between the windows at the south- 

 east corner of the Pavillion are placed a tibia and 

 plaster-casts of other bones, also two entire eggs, 

 many broken pieces, and one plaster cast of an egg, 

 of an extinct wingless bird, named Aepyornis 

 (probably much larger than an Ostrich) found in the 

 superficial deposits of the Inland of Madagascar. 

 One of the eggs of this bird measures 3 feet in 

 its longest circumference and 2 feet 6 inches in girth, 

 and its liquid contents equal a little more than two 

 gallons. The size of these eggs, being about four 

 times larger than the egg of the living ostriches, it is 

 probable that the size of this extinct bird was larger 

 in the same proportion. They are much larger in 

 size than the eggs of Dinornis. 



In the same case may be seen bones of the Dodo 

 (Didus ineptus), from Mauritius, and a mounted 



