Les Oiseaux des Phosphorites du Quercy The Fossil Turtles of North America

Abstract

WHEN working at the vertebrate remains from the phosphorite beds of Central France, the late Dr. Filhol made over the whole, collection of bird-bones from these deposits in his possession to his colleague Prof. Milne-Edwards, by whom they were described and named in a memoir communicated to the second Ornithological Congress held at Budapest in 1891. Almost at the same time the present writer was engaged on a catalogue of the fossil birds in the British Museum, and as this was published a few months earlier than the report of the congress, his names antedate those of his French colleague. With these works as a starting-point, Dr. Gaillard has for several years past been endeavouring to amplify and consolidate our knowledge of the bird fauna of the phosphorites, and the memoir now before us is the result of his labours. Not only has a very large number of actual specimens passed through his hands, but he has obtained plaster-casts of the phosphorite bird-bones from almost all the museums in Europe, thus enabling him to carry out his task in a manner which would otherwise have been impossible.

Les Oiseaux des Phosphorites du Quercy.

By C. Gaillard. Annales de l'Université de Lvon, nouv. série: I., Sciences, Medicine, Fascicule xxiii. Pp. 1–178; plates i–viii. (Lyon: A. Rey et Cie.; Paris: J. B. Baillière et Fils, 1908.)

The Fossil Turtles of North America.

By O. Perry Hay. Pp. iv+568; plates i–cxiii. (Washington: Carnegie Institute, 1908.)