210 
POPULAR SCIENCE RETIEW. 
washed, first by decantation, and next placed on a filter and washed until 
the water exhibits no acid reaction ; the material is then carefully dried at 
from 100° to 120°. 100 parts of crude animal charcoal yield 20 of the 
purified, which has highly decolourising properties. The method requires 
time and patience. 
European Paraffin Oil bids fair ere long to do away with the American 
trade in this coal product. It appears that Chemical News ” Jan. 31] in 
Galicia large quantities of the petroleum (in every respect like the Ameri- 
can) occur, and according to the investigation, made by competent engineers, 
the country alluded to will soon be able to compete with the foreign trade 
in this article. Well-boring is actively pursued in several localities, but 
none have as yet reached the main oil-bearing strata, which are kno'wn to be 
at depths varying from 1,000 to 1,500 feet below the surface. 
GEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY. 
Professor Marshes discovery : a new group of fossil birds. — A new sub- 
class of fossil birds with biconcave vertebrae has been quite recently dis- 
covered by Prof. O. C. Marsh in the United States of America. The 
fossils were described some time before [Jan. 21, 1873] ; but the discoverer 
says [“ Silliman’s Journal,” Feb. 1873] that they prove on further investi- 
gation to possess some additional characters, which separate them still more 
widely from all known recent and fossil forms. The type species of this 
group (IcJithyornis dispar, Marsh) has well-developed teeth in both Jaivs. 
These teeth were quite numerous, and implanted in distinct sockets. They 
are small, compressed and pointed, and all of those preserved are similar. 
Those in the lower jaws number about twenty in each ramus, and are all more 
or less inclined backward. The series extends over the entire upper 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 is 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 trun- 
cated just behind the articulation for the quadrate. 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 coracoids. 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 re- 
semble those in swimming birds. The vertebrae are all biconcave, the con- 
cavities at each end of the centra being distinct, and nearly alike. Whether 
the tail was elongated cannot at present be determined, but the last vertebra 
of the sacrum was unusually large. This 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 
