THE HISTORY OF ANATOMICAL SCIENCE 311 



suggestions ; Von Meyer's long series of wonder- 

 fully accurate memoirs, with their admirable illus- 

 trations executed by his own hands, all belong 

 to Owen's generation. But, perhaps, the fairest 

 comparison is with Cuvier ; and I do not think 

 that those who have had to concern themselves 

 with these subjects will rank any of Cuvier's 

 memoirs higher than those of Owen on Mylodon, 

 Megatherium^ Glyptodon, Macratichenia, and 

 other extinct South American animals, which 

 followed up the account of Toxodon. 



In 1838 appeared the memoir on the Stone- 

 held Slate mammals, then the oldest known, 

 pointing out their marsupial affinities, and with 

 this the later investigations on the Purbeck mam- 

 mals may be grouped. In 1839-40, we have 

 the first indication of the wingless birds of New 

 Zealand, widening out, in after years, into the 

 long series of memoirs on Dinornis and the like. 

 In 1 84 1, the description of the triassic Laby- 

 rinthodonts of Central England, which, with 

 Von Meyer's earlier and later work, was the 

 commencement of the elucidation of the triassic 

 fauna in all quarters of the world, made its ap- 

 pearance. In 1844, Owen published the memoir 

 on Belemnites, which had a distinct value, 

 though not perhaps quite that assigned to it at 

 the time. In 1845, followed the first view of 

 the wonderful extinct faunae of South Africa and 

 Australia, so largely extended by Owen himself 



