UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONS 



BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF 



GEOLOGY 



Vol. 5, No. 21, pp. 305-317 ANDREW C. LAWSON, Editor 



TERATORNIS 

 A NEW AVIAN GENUS 



FROM RANCHO LA BREA 



BY 



LOYE HOLMES MILLER. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 



Introduction 305 



Diagnostic characters 307 



Skull 307 



Pectoral arch 312 



Affinities 315 



INTRODUCTION. 



Among' many interesting forms of vertebrates taken from 

 the Quaternary asphalt of the Rancho La Brea beds in Southern 

 California, there have appeared several specimens of a very 

 large bird which shows such marked divergence from Recent 

 forms as to necessitate the establishment of a new genus. Though 

 the form appears raptorial, its final assignment to any of the 

 existing families is held in reserve at present, as some degree of 

 uncertainty regarding its body skeleton makes conservatism ap- 

 pear the preferable chance of error. Four cranial fragments 

 of the species have been taken in one small excavation. One 

 found by Dr. William Bebb of Los Angeles was kindly loaned 

 to the author; a second, discovered by Mr. Eugene Fischer, was 

 presented to the University of California. The other two. in- 

 cluding the most complete specimen, were taken during the Uni- 

 versity of California excavations. 



