On the Affinities of Hesperornis

Abstract

AMONG some very useful and important papers recently issued by the Museum of Zoology of the University College, Dundee, appears one by Prof. D'Arcy Thompson, “On the Systematic Position of Hesperornis.” In this excellent scientific brochure, Prof. Thompson has critically compared in detail the skeleton of a diver (Colymbus septentrionalis) with the skeleton of Hesperornis, as presented us by Marsh; and the outcome of this investigation has fully convinced the author of the work in question of the kinship, which undoubtedly exists, between the extinct Hesperornis and the existing pogopodine birds, as the divers, loons, and grebes. We have long been satisfied of these affinities, and firmly believed that the Colymbidæ were the descendants, perhaps direct descendants, of the toothed birds of the genus Hesperornis. It required but such comparison as has been so ably instituted by Prof. Thompson to make it quite clear to any thoughtful anatomist; and, as he hints, a similar comparison will probably go to show the fact that another extinct toothed bird-form, Ichthyornis, lies in the line of descent of the terns and their allies.