a test, in addition to the other evidence before mentioned, should, I think, remove all scepticism in regard to the ornithic nature of most of these bipeds. The size indeed of some of the fossil impressions seemed at first to raise an objection against their having belonged to birds, as it far exceeded that of any living Ostrich; but the Dinornis and other feathered giants of New Zealand have removed this difficulty. "The footprints are accompanied by numerous coprolites, and Mr. Dana has derived an ingenious argument from the analysis of these bodies, the proportion they contain of uric acid, phosphate of lime, carbonate of lime, and organic matter, showing that, like guano, they are the droppings of birds rather than of reptiles. Still it is asked, whether, if birds were so abundant, we ought not to meet with some of their bones in a fossil state,-a remark, be it observed, which is equally applicable to the associated quadrupedal imprints. In reference to this question, I took pains, when on the shores of the Bay of Fundy, after I had examined the red sandstone of the Connecticut, to inquire whether, in digging trenches through the red mud of recent origin, from which the tide has been excluded by sea-banks, they had ever found the bones of birds, and I could hear of no instance, although I saw the sandpiper, or Tringa minuta, making every day those lines of impressions in the mud bordering the estuary which I have described and figured in my 'Travels.' My friend Dr. Webster, of Kentville, Nova Scotia, has recently sent me some fine examples of rain-drops, which he saw formed during a shower on this modern mud, and casts of which project in relief from the under-side of an incumbent layer of the same argillaceous deposit, thrown down during a subsequent rise of the tides. Thus marked and traversed by cracks caused by shrinkage, and containing the footprints of birds, they present a perfect counterpart of many of the old triassic shales above described." 3 1 "Amer. Journ. of Science," vol. xlviii. p. 46. 2 Sir Charles Lyell has presented specimens of the foot-tracks of these birds on the sandy shores of the Bay of Fundy to the British Museum, for comparison with the fossils. 3 Sir C. Lyell's Anniversary Address, pp. 44, 45. CHAPTER II. PART I. PLAN OF ROOM II. SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS OF ROOM II.— MAMMALIAN REMAINS MEGALONYX-MOA HEXAPROTODON -MYLODON MACRAUCRINOIDEA CHENIA-SCELIDOTHERIUM-MEGALOCHELYS-STARFISHES THE arrangement of the objects in the apartment we shall next survey is but temporary; some of the cases are empty, and others contain fossil remains of Mammalia, Birds, and Reptiles; and of Starfishes, and Crinoidea. The subjoined synopsis will therefore suffice to direct the visitor to the specimens most worthy of attention in this miscellaneous collection, and our descriptions will embrace but two classes of objects, namely, the fossil Starfishes and Crinoidea in Case G; and the remains of the Moa or Dinornis, and other extinct birds of New Zealand, contained in Wall-cases B and C, and Table-cases 15, 16, and 17. The latter comprise relics of several extraordinary ornithic types, presenting osteological characters previously unknown in animals of this class, and which demand minute examination; while the geological history of the deposits in which these bones were contained invests the subject with a high degree of interest and importance. ROOM II. (62 feet long.) SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS. ORGANIC REMAINS. WALL-CASES.-These are only partially filled, and the arrangement is but provisional. Those on the left, or south side, contain a miscellaneous assemblage of bones and teeth of Mammalia and Reptiles, and many bones of colossal Birds from New Zealand. A. [1.] Bones of Mammalia from the drift and alluvial deposits of England. Among them are teeth of Elephants, Horses, Deer, Ox, &c. (collected by the Author), from the strata overlying the Chalk along the Sussex Coast, between Brighton and Rottingdean. The ungueal bone, cannon or metatarsal bone, and teeth, of an extinct species of Horse (Equus fossilis), imbedded in masses of conglomerated pebbles from the ancient shingle bed, are especially worthy of notice.1 Near these fossils are several bones (of a bluish black colour, from phosphate of iron) of a Deer, discovered in the alluvial silt of Lewes Levels. B. [2.] Megalonyx. -On a shelf on the upper part of this case there is a series of models of bones of the Megalonyx, a colossal extinct Edentate mammalian; the originals were discovered in the celebrated Mammoth Cave, in Kentucky, United States.2 Moa or Dinornis.—On the upper shelves of this case, to the right of the above specimens, are many bones of the extremities, and several pelves, of extinct colossal birds from New Zealand, called Moa by the natives, but more generally known by the scientific name, DINORNIS. All these specimens were collected by Mr. Percy Earle, from the submerged deposit at Waikouaiti, on the eastern shore of the Middle Island, which will hereafter be particularly described. The enormous size of some of these bones cannot fail to arrest the visitors' attention: a tibia, or leg-bone, in this collection is one of the largest known, and indicates a bird eleven or twelve feet high. C. [3.] On one of the shelves is placed the anterior portion of the upper and lower jaws, with teeth, of an enormous Gavial, from the Eocene deposits of the Sewalik Hills. Skulls with teeth, and other bones of Mammalia, and por 1 See "Medals of Creation;-Excursion to Brighton Cliffs," vol. ii. p. 913. 2 Originally in the Author's Museum; presented by Dr. Morton, of Philadelphia. An interesting account of a late exploration of this remarkable cave, by Prof. Benjamin Silliman, Jun., and Mr. Reginald N. Mantell, is given in the " American Journal of Science" for May, 1851. tions of the carapaces of Chelonian reptiles, from the same strata, presented by Major Cautley and Dr. Falconer, are also deposited in this case. Among the former are specimens of the Hexaprotodon, an animal allied to the Hippopotamus, and characterised by the presence of six incisor teeth in each jaw hence the generic name. Mylodon.—There are likewise bones of colossal Edentata, from the Pampas of South America: the skull and bones of Mylodon Darwinii (so named in honour of Charles Darwin, Esq.) are particularly interesting. D. [4.] Macrauchenia.-In this compartment are bones of the Macrauchenia Patachonica, an extinct Pachyderm, as large as a Rhinoceros, uniting characters connecting it with the Camel and Palæotherium, from Patagonia; presented by Charles Darwin, Esq. In the same case are the skull, vertebræ, scapula, humerus, femur, and other bones of the Scelidotherium (S. leptocephalum), an extinct Edentate related to the Mylodon: from South America; collected and presented by Mr. Darwin.1 E. [5.] This case is filled with the remains of the carapace, plastron, &c. of several individuals of the Megalochelys Atlas; a stupendous fossil tortoise, discovered by Major Cautley and Dr. Falconer in the Eocene strata of the Sewalik Hills; with the bones of Mastodons, Elephants, &c., to be described in the sequel. A model of a young individual, constructed by Mr. Dew, is placed near the entrance of Room I., and is described ante, p. 11. Some of these relics show that the length of the carapace was upwards of twelve feet in adult specimens. F. [6.] This case is unoccupied. G. [7.] Stellerida.—On the right of the entrance. This case is assigned to fossil Starfishes and Crinoidea. Some of the Starfishes and Marsupites from the chalk of Sussex, on the right-hand shelf, are unusually perfect. Pentacrinites.-In the centre of this cabinet there is affixed to the wall a slab of Lias limestone, about five feet square, from Bohl in Wirtemburg, on which is disposed in relief a 1 As these Mammalian Remains will probably be removed to Room VI., it will be convenient to notice them more particularly when treating of the contents of that apartment. |