MACKIE — ON FOSSIL BIRDS. 



4-17 



Johannes Christianus Kundmann, a doctor of Wratislaw, in his 

 ' Promptuarium B.erurn Naturalium et Artificialium Vratislaviense,' 

 published in 1726, says (p. 67) that a petrified egg was discovered at 

 "Wizin, in Bohemia, and that " a petrified foot of a big Paviran, with 

 all its five nails, was discovered in Silesia," — adding, " this is a very 

 curious specimen, the like of which is not to be found in any museum, 

 and the more curious as it shows even the blood converted into 

 stone." 



What a " paviran" is, we confess to be ignorant. Pavara is an 

 Italian name for the domestic duck ; but the "five nails," which the 

 fossil referred to by our author possesses, renders more than doubtful 

 any association with the foot of the Anas miser. 



The passage in the original German is : — 



" Ein zu Stein gewordenes Ey, welches zu Wizin in Bohmen gefunden ; 

 ein zu Stein gewordener Fuss mit alien 5 nageln von einem grossen 

 Paviran, welcher in Schlesien gefunden worden (dieses ist ein curioses 

 Stuck, welches man in keinem Cabinet finden wird, weil auch so gahr 

 man das Blut oben noch siehet, das zu Steine worden)." — P. 67. 



Further on in this work, we find in his Catalogue of " Marmora, 

 Stalactitae, Lapides speculares, calcarii, tophacei, arense," etc., the 

 record of " an egg entirely incrusted with tufa :" — 



" 110. Topho Ovum totum ibidem incrustatum (s. 513). Tophum hunc 

 descr. Gotlifr. Berger, ' de Thermis Carolinis,' p. 14-20. Alios vero 

 descr. in Georg. Agricola de Nat. Fossil, lib. vii. cap. xii. p. 640. Ans. 

 Boetius in Hist. Gem. et Lapid. lib. ii. cap. ccxix. p. 402. Joh. de Laet 

 de Gem. et Lapid. lib. ii. cap. xii. p. 132. Pre. Til. Aldrovandus in 

 Mus. Metallic, lib. iv. p. 703. Ol. Wormius in Museo, lib. i. cap. vi. 

 p. 51. Boh. Balbinus. Miscell. Hist. Reg. Bohem. lib. i. cap. xxiv. p. 63 ; 

 it. Bob. Bloot, Nat. Hist, of Oxfordshire, p. 34, et ex eo Joh. Jac. 

 Scheuchzerus, Hydrographise Helvetise (quae est Hist. JSTatur. Helvetica?, 

 part ii. p. 320), cons. Carol. Nic. Langii, Hist. Lap. fig. Helv. part ii. 

 lib. hi. cap. ii. p. 55." 



Still further on, in his Catalogue of " parts of other petrified ani- 

 mals," we have the following entry at page 254 : — 



" 17. Oscicula petrefacta avicularum alba accuratissima ex monte Hassiao, 

 vulgo 'dem Vogels-Berge,' eruta (s. 314). 



" 18. Oscicula talia petrefacta lsevia Maslensis coloris nigrricantis 

 (s. 322)." S 



■ Vid. Leonh. Dav. Hermann, Maslographia, part ii. cap. ix. page 224. Varias Opi- 

 nion es collegit Dav. Signi. Buttnerus in Rud. Diluvian. page 304. 



There are several reprints of Zannichelli's catalogue of the fossils 

 in his museum. The one usually quoted from is the " Enumeratio 

 Re rum Naturalium quje m Musveo Zaiotchellia^o assert an- 

 tur," published at Venice in 1736, in which he notes " a hen's egg- 

 discovered in a very hard stone " by the following entry : — 



" Mus«i Zannichelliani abacus alter, in quo fossilia figurata continentur." 

 206. Ovum gallinaceum in saxo durissimo inventum ex Agro Homano." 



We find the record, however, ten years earlier, in his " Ex Naturje 



