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to the species of Bears found fossil in the bone-cave of Lherm, in the 
Ariege. Of the various mammals found in this cavern ( Ursus spelceus , 
Felis spelceus, Hycena spelcea , and species of Rhinoceros, Cervus, &c.), the 
Great Cave Bear ( Ursus spelceus) is the most abundant, at least a hundred 
crania of that animal having been found. According to M. Filhol, these 
abundant materials prove the great fixity of character of the species, and 
whatever modifications some of them may show, they are always quite 
distinct from the common Brown Bear ( Ursus arctos ). Lately, M. Marty 
has found two skulls of Bears quite distinct from any that had previously 
been met with. One of them, a perfect skull, measures along its lower 
surface, from the incisor margin to the occipital foramen, 35 centim. (nearly 
14 inches), and has six teeth behind the canine as in Ursus arctos, instead of 
only three as in U. spelceus. This piece of evidence is borne out by other 
charactei s ; and M. Filhol identifies this animal with the living Brown Bear, 
which, therefore, he considers cannot have descended from the Great Cave 
Bear, but must have originated elsewhere, probably in North America, and 
gradually advanced to take the place of U. spelceus in Southern Europe, 
where it still occurs. 
The other specimen is still more interesting. It consists of the anterior 
part of a bear’s skull, having four teeth behind the canine in the upper jaw, 
and the first premolar separated from the canine by a space of 15 millim. 
Hence the face was very short, but it was remarkably wide. The width 
behind the carnassial tooth is 103 centim. The nasal aperture measures 
64 millim. across, and only 51 from front to back, while in all other known 
bears the antero-posterior diameter is the longer. The forehead is depressed 
and nearly horizontally continuous with the nasal bones, its elevation above 
the palatine arch being only 108 centim. at a point where the forehead has 
an elevation of 11*8 centim. in the Brown Bear, and 18’3 centim. in the 
Great Cave Bear. The width of the forehead is nearly equal to that of the 
largest crania of Ursus spelceus. M. Filhol regards this fragment as indi- 
cating a new species of Bear, for which he proposes the name of Ursus 
Gaudryi. 
A Jurassic Bird . — Prof. Marsh describes a fossil bird from the Jurassic 
Atlantosaurus beds of Wyoming, which will be the oldest representative of 
the class if Archceopteryx is to be regarded as Reptilian. Prof. Marsh names 
the species Laopteryx priscus. The type specimen consists of the posterior 
portion of the skull, which indicates a bird rather larger than a blue heron 
(Ardea herodias). The bones of the skull are pneumatic. The occipital 
condyle is sessile and hemispherical, flattened and slightly grooved above. 
The occipital foramen is nearly circular. The quadrate bone had an undivided 
head. In general character the skull seems most nearly to approach the 
Ratitae. A single tooth was found in the matrix, resembling those of 
Ichthyornis. Prof. Marsh infers that Laopteryx possessed teeth and biconcave 
vertebrae. 
