MACKEE— ON FOSSIL BIRDS. 



453 



" Cap. XX. p. 66. — Zoolithus avis, or Ornitliolitus, is a petrified 

 bird, which is very seldom to be met with amongst the Petriticata. 



" 1. Ornitliolitus avis Integra. — Ornitholite of a whole bird, which, 

 according to Linnaeus and Wallerius, is conserved in some museum, 

 has never met my eye ; and these stones must at all events be very 

 scarce, as birds, owing to the use of their wings, very easily escape the 

 dangers of waves and immersion. 



"2. Ornitliolitus plumarum. — Ornitholite of feather. Scheuchzer, 

 in his ' Vindicise Piscium,' describes a specimen of such a fossil bird's 

 feather in stone discovered at Oeningen. 



" 3. Ornitliolitus niclorum. — Petrified nests. They are found some- 

 times in the subterranean caverns full of stalactites, and in tufas; 

 but they may be rather classed amongst the incrustata, or incrusta- 

 tions, than amongst the lapidifacta, or petrifactions. Such a nest 

 was discovered in a cave by Baumann ; five others are described by 

 Bruckmann. These incrusted nests are sometimes formed from sta- 

 lactite, or earth deposited from saline water in layers within the 

 apartment. 



" Such a nest of a linnet, together with its eggs, incrusted with 

 salt of tartar, discovered at Artern, is quoted by the said Bruck- 

 mann in his ' Museum,' and a similar one is to be seen in the museum 

 of Ritter, tab. 44, f. 5. 



" Such true incrustations, as well as others of this class, are not 

 unfrequently encountered in salt-pits. A very curious specimen is 

 quoted by Bacci And. in his w r ork ' De Thermis,' lib. v. c. 4, p. 157. 

 In some place of Transylvania, he says, there was in a salt-pit a hen 

 discovered hatching her eggs, and which, owing to the salt with which 

 she was covered, w r as preserved incorrupted, and is still to be seen." 



The original Latin of the text we give below : — 



" Caput XX. (p. 66.) 



" Zoolithus Avis seu Ornitliolitus est Petrificatum Avis. Hoc inter Pe- 

 trificata maxime infrequens esse solet. 



" 1. Ornitholithus avis integrce quoad nomen exstat apud cl. Linnaeum 

 et Wallerium in museo quodam conservetur, inihi non constat. Sed non 

 possunt non rarissimi esse hi lapides, quum Aves alarum ministerio undis 

 et submersionis periculis se facile subducant. 



" 2. Ornitholithus 'Plumarum. Lapidem fissilem (Eningensem, qui 

 Avis Pennam referat, describit et depingit cel. Scheuehzerus in Vindiciis 

 Piscium, tab. ii. 



" 3. Ornitholithus Nidorum, quandoque in Cryptis subterraneis Stalac- 

 tita prsegnantibus, et inter Tophos occurrit, sed inter incrustata potius 

 quam lapidifacta referri meretur. Hujus generis nidum possideo in antro 

 Baumannio inventum ; alios quinque recenset clar. Bruckmannus.* 

 Formantur ejusmodi nidi incrustati nonnunquam et stalactita vel 



Prseside Johanne Gesnero, Med. D. Phys. et Math. Prof. Ord. Academies Imperials 

 Naturae Curiosorum, et Socc. Regiar. Berolinensis itemque Suecicse Upsaliensis, ut et 

 Physico-Botanicse Florentino Membro, pro consequendo Examine Philosophico, defen- 

 dent David a Moos, Casparus Ammianus, Felix Hofmeisterus, Rodolphus Dsenikerus, 

 Heuricus Kilchspergerus, Joh. Luc. Salomon Wollius. At d. 21 Mart. H. L. Q,. S. 

 Tiguri, Ex Officina Gessneriana. An. mdcclti." 



* Epist. Itiner. Centur. ii. p. 25, tab. 7, 8. Wolsenb. 17-49,- 4; 



