490 Tla^ ^ürbringer, 



Sn einer fef)r lefen^mert^en ^b^anblungi^), beten @infid)t irf) ber ßteben§= 

 n)iirbig!ett be§ 35erfaffer§ üerbanfe, Be!)anbelt er anf @rnnb einer eingef)enben unb 

 glü(f(i(^ bnrcf)gefüf)rten 33etra(^tnng nnb 33ergleic^ung be§ ©!e(eteg bie fijftematifc^e 

 (Stellung üon Hesperornis unb fommt ((5. 14) p folgenben SRefultaten: „To sum 

 up, it appears to me that from purely osteological characters, the wide diffe- 

 rence between Hesperornis and any Ratitae, and its elose resemblance to 

 Colymbus or to Podiceps is clear and patent. From these characters it is a 

 Colymbine bird, of great size and prodigious swimming power, which, while 

 losing its wings and sternal keel and otherwise somewhat modifying its 

 shoulder-girdle as the faculty of flight degenerated, has retained in its brain- 

 case, its palate, its mandibles, its vertebrae, its sternuni, pelvis, and hind-limbs, 

 resemblances almost amounting to identity with the existing Colymbi : resem- 

 blances as great as between Strigops and the other parrots, and much greater 

 than between Didus and the ordinary pigeons." Sßetter^in tüerben üon X^ont^jon 

 bie 35ejonberl)etten ber S5e§al)nung unb ber ^lein!)eit be§ @et)trne§ üon Hesperornis 

 Betont, aber al§ nt(i)t au§ftf)Iaggebenb für bie fijftematifd^e Stellung er!annt. S3e^ 

 pglic^ ber S3e5al)nung fü^rt er (ß. 14) au§: „As regards the former (the teeth), 

 when birds undoubtedly descend from toothed ancestors of some kind, and 

 when every other great division of the vertebrates comprices toothed as well 

 as toothless forms, I cannot see that this fact, however interesting, should be 

 permitted to alter or to determine the great lines of ornithological Classifi- 

 cation." S3epgltd) ber ha^ @el)irn betreffenben 5Cu§füf)rungen iei auf ba§> Original 

 üertütefen (©. 15). 



3n ber ben eigenen Unterfu(f)ungen X!)om^fon'§ t)orau§gef)enben Siteratur= 

 Ueberfic^t gebenft auc^ S^erfaffer unter Sttirung einiger ©ä^e au§ meinen „Unter= 

 fud)ungen gur SO^orp^oIogte unb ©i^ftemati! ber 35ögel'' metner 5lu§fü^rungen über 

 Hesperornis, unb gtnar in folgenber SBeife (©. 1): „Fürbringer, in his „Wloxp^o^ 

 logie unb ©^ftematt! ber S^ögel" discusses the affinities of these birds at great 

 length. He admits the existence of a wide difference between Hesperornis and 

 Ichthyornis: and breaking up Marsh's group of the Odontornithes, he relegates 

 the latter genus to the Carinatae, while following Marsh so far as to advocate 

 the Struthious affinities of Hesperornis i''); and he considers Hesperornis to 



14) Thompson, D'Arcy W., On the Systematic Position of Hesperornis. Studies 

 from the Museum of Zoology in University College, Dundee, Vol. I, No. 10. Dundee, 

 August 1890. 



'5) 21I§ ^etegfleEen bafür mx's^in au§> metTtem 35uc^e cttirt: (Op. cit. p. 1475): „^c^ !ann fomit 

 ienen 3tutoren nur gufttmmen, it)eld;e bie (2ubf(affe ber Odontornithes aufibflen unb bie eine Drbnung 

 berfelben (Odontotormae Marsh) ben ©arinaten, bie anbere (Odontolcae Marsh) ben 9tatiten jus 

 rechneten. — (Ibidem p. 1473): „3)ie Hesperornithes Mlben fomit, nact> ber je^igen 2)efinition ber 



