670 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXXV I II. 



interesting and remarkable are the complete examples found in 

 lacustrine and fluviatile deposits, the most perfect in our own 

 country being Pala;ospiza from the insect-bearing shales of 

 Florissant, Colorado, and Gallinuloides from the Green River 

 Eocene of Wyoming. In the former the plumage is pre- 

 served, in the latter it is wanting.^ Skeletons nearly as per- 

 fect as these have also been described from fresh-water deposits 

 of the south of France and elsewhere in Europe. 



But it is fossil plumage from marine deposits with which this 

 article is especially concerned. The feathers of Archaeopteryx 

 are too well known to require more than a mere mention of their 

 occurrence, and those of Hesperornis, recently made known from 

 the Kansas Cretaceous, are still fresh in the minds of students.^ 

 There is yet another marine horizon from which feathers have 

 been obtained, these constituting, however, the only indication 

 of avian life which exists in the formation. This is the Upper 

 Eocene limestone of Monte Bolca in the Veronese, famous for 

 nearly four centuries on account »f its remarkable fish and plant 

 remains. But as for the occurrence of detached feathers to the 

 exclusion of other remains, it should be remembered that ma- 

 rine and shore-birds are constantly shedding them, and hence, if 

 circumstances favoring preservation are equal, they are likely to 

 be numerically more abundant than bones. 



Owing to their excessive rarity and wonderful preservation. 

 It is not surprising that the few feathers thus far obtained from 

 Monte Bolca should be objects of considerable interest. In the 

 early days of palaeontology, no little rivalry was created over the 

 acquisition of the first specimens brought to light, one having 

 been found in 1777, and another some twenty years later, both 



