FOSSIL BIEDS. 
59 
Australian Marsupials of the corresponding period (Pleistocene, 
or latest Tertiary), the Diprotodon and Nototherium, remains 
of which will be found in this room, greatly exceeded any 
of the species now existing on that continent. On the other 
hand, all the mammals of the earliest geological periods 
of which remains are known, are of diminutive size, as seen 
in the very interesting series, mostly from the Purbeck 
(Upper Oolite) beds of Dorset, and Stonesfield (Great Oolite) 
of Oxfordshire, exhibited in the centre window-case on the 
east side of the room. 
Fig. 80.— Greatly reduced F^keleton of the Tguanodon. 
The south side of this room (right on entering) is chiefly Extinct Birds, 
devoted to the remains of extinct birds, including the famous 
Lizard-tailed Bird (Arehceopteryx) of the Solenhofen beds of 
Bavaria, the oldest known member of the class, presenting 
many reptilian characters, but with well-developed feathers on 
the wings and tail, the impressions of which are beautifully 
preserved in the specimen. A series of skeletons of the " Moas," 
or Dinor7iithidce of New Zealand, birds in which no trace of a 
wing has been discovered, show the diversity of size of different 
