. The ancient life-history of the earth; a comprehensive outline of the principles and leading facts of palæontological science. Paleontology. THE EOCENE PERIOD. 297 west of England, there occur fossil remains of all the three living types of Crocodilians—namely, the Gavials, the Crocodiles, and the Alligators (fig. 226) — though at the. Fig. 226.—Upper jaw of Alligator. Eocene Tertiary, Isle of Wight. present day these forms are all geographically restricted in their range, and are never associated together. Almost all the existing orders of Bii'ds, if not all, are represented in the Eo
. The ancient life-history of the earth; a comprehensive outline of the principles and leading facts of palæontological science. Paleontology. THE EOCENE PERIOD. 297 west of England, there occur fossil remains of all the three living types of Crocodilians—namely, the Gavials, the Crocodiles, and the Alligators (fig. 226) — though at the. Fig. 226.—Upper jaw of Alligator. Eocene Tertiary, Isle of Wight. present day these forms are all geographically restricted in their range, and are never associated together. Almost all the existing orders of Bii'ds, if not all, are represented in the Eocene deposits by remains often very closely allied to existing types. Thus, amongst the Swimming Birds {Natatores) we find examples of forms allied to the living Pelicans and Mergansers; amongst the Waders {Gral- latores) we have birds resembling the Ibis (the Numenius gypsortcm of the Paris basin); amongst the Running Birds (Cursores) we meet with the great Gastornis Parisicnsis, which equalled the African Ostrich in height, and the still more gigantic Dasornis Lcmdine/isis; remains of a Partridge rep- resent the Scratching Birds [Rasores); the American Eocene has yielded the bones of one of the Climbing Birds {Scan- sores), apparently referable to the Woodpeckers; the Protor?iis Glarisieiisis of the Eocene Schists of Claris is the oldest known example of the Perching Birds {Lisessores); and the Birds of Prey {Raptores) are represented by Vultures, Owls, and Hawks. The toothed Birds of the Upper Cretaceous are no longer known to exist; but Professor Owen has recently described from the London Clay the skull of a very remarkable Bird, in which there is, at any rate, an approxi- mation to the structure of Ichthyor?iis and Hesperoniis. The bird in question has been named the Odontopteryx toliapicus, its generic title being derived from the very remarkable char- acters of its jaws. In this singular form (fig. 227) the marginc. Please note that these images are extracted fro
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