BIRDS WITH TEETH. 
349 
entire margin of the dentary bone, the front tooth being very 
near the extremity. The maxillary teeth appear to have been 
equally numerous, and essentially the same as those in the 
mandible. The skull was of moderate size, and the eyes were 
placed well forward. The lower jaws are long and slender, and 
the rami were not closely united at the symphysis. They are 
abruptly truncated just behind the articulation for the quad- 
rate. This extremity, and especially its articulation, is very 
similar to that in some recent aquatic birds. The jaws were 
apparently not encased in a horny sheath. 
“ The scapular arch, and the bones of the wings and legs, all 
conform closely to the true ornithic type. The sternum has a 
prominent keel, and elongated grooves for the expanded cora- 
coids. The wings were large in proportion to the legs, and 
the humerus had an extended radial crest. The metacarpals 
are united, as in ordinary birds. The bones of the posterior 
extremities resemble those in swimming birds. The vertebrae 
were all biconcave, the concavities at each end of the centra 
being distinct, and nearly alike. Whether the tail was elon- 
gated cannot at present be determined, but the last vertebrae of 
the sacrum was unusually large. The bird was fully adult and 
about as large as a pigeon. With the exception of the skull, 
the bones do not appear to have been pneumatic, although most 
of them are hollow. The species was carnivorous and probably 
aquatic. The possession of teeth and biconcave vertebrae, 
although the rest of the skeleton is entirely avian in type, 
obviously implies that these remains cannot be placed in the 
present group of birds, and hence a new sub- class, Odont- 
ornithes , is proposed for them. The order may be called Ich - 
thyornithes .” The other form discovered by Professor Marsh is 
named by him Apatornis celer. 
Much surprise has been expressed at the non-publication of 
these remains with figures, but when it is borne in mind that 
Professor Marsh has been carrying on the exploration of these 
vast Cretaceous deposits in a wild and unsettled country cdone, 
and that he has further attempted the almost impracticable task 
cf working them out with his own hands, we are the less sur- 
prised to learn from him that he has failed in securing an artist 
to delineate them satisfactorily. Professor Marsh is a veritable 
Crusader in Palaeontology, and Yale College may well be 
proud of him ; but we hope he will, for the sake of science, 
attempt less hazardous enterprises among the restless Indians of 
Kansas, and be satisfied to work out and publish the splendid 
mass of materials which he has already accumulated, and for 
which English palaeontologists are craving. 
From birds with persistent embryonic characters, in head, 
hand, and vertebral column, to bipedal Eeptilia, seems but a 
natural step, and it is not surprising to find that the subject has 
