50 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



These characters ought never to supersede descriptions, but should 

 rather be superadded. And it is suggested that, henceforth, defini- 

 tions might be made more sure if the dental formula were given 

 with each new species or genus described. And, by way of illustra- 

 tion, annexed is a notice of the new genus Atalanta. 



Atnlanta has but one species, and is founded on the Astarte JELart- 

 welliensis of Sowerby. Observing on it a posterior area like that in 

 Cyprina, and which also occurs in some species of Astarte, which 

 show rudiments of lateral teeth, I was led to suspect that if this shell 

 were an Astarte at all, it also might have lateral teeth. Accordingly, 

 as there was no lack of specimens, I broke up many examples, and 



V • 2 • 1' 



succeeded in finding the hinge, which is ^ ^ . ; thus differing 



from Astarte in having on each side well-developed lateral teeth. 

 The long teeth give it a certain resemblance to Corbicula or Mactra, 

 which it also resembles in having the lateral teeth transversely 

 striated with age. The ligament is short, but very prominent. The 

 pallial line was not to be traced. Astarte is probably its nearest re- 

 lative. 



FOSSIL BIRDS. 

 By the Editor. 



{Continued from page 24.) 



"We shall, we trust, be pardoned for returning in this number, be- 

 fore we proceed onwards to Cuvier's works, to some omissions of old 

 authors which have occurred. 



The first of these additional quotations is from Scheuchzer's later 

 work, published at Zurich in 1718, ' Meteorologia et Oryctographia 

 Helvetica,' p. 336. 



" Diluvian Birds. — Everybody can very easily conceive that all 

 the birds, owing to their agility, could have escaped the waters of the 

 Deluge, and it is therefore not to be wondered that even in the 

 richest and best-assorted museums of arts and natural history, re- 

 mains of the bird-kind are very seldom to be met with, or that they 

 are, so to say, scarcer than a white raven. In Switzerland I have as 

 yet found nothing ; from the quarry of Oeningen I can show a well- 

 impressed bird's feather, which I have reproduced on page 14 of the 

 Querel. Pise." This figure we give in our Plate IV. fig. 1. 



The original passage follows below : — 



" Aves DiLuviANiE. — Es kan ein jeder ohuschwer begreifen, dass die 

 Vogel, wegen ihrer Leichte, alle werden in denen Siindfluth-Wassern oben 

 auf'geschwummen seyn, und sich desshalb nicht zu verwundern, wann 

 auch in denen best-versehenen Kunst- und ]N T aturalien-Kammern etwas von 

 dem Vogel-Geschlecht iiberbliebenes so seltsam oder noch rarer ist als ein 



