FOSSIL REMAINS

Dominion, Volume 38, Issue 268, 10 August 1945, Page 9

FOSSIL REMAINS

Discoveries In North ’Otago (By Telegrai-n. ■ i .. t Association.! DUNEDIN. August 9. * Dr. B. J. Marples, professor of zoology at Otago University, who some lime ago discovered al. Duntroon, in North Otago, a fos.xil whale skeleton many millions of years old, lias continued his researches on this site. As a result the sandstone cliffs, which many centuries ago were submerged. have yielded further valuable specimens, and from them Dr. .Marples has taken lhe most comprehensive collection of penguin remains ever assembled in New Zealand. Previously only three types of penguins had been identified by fossils found in the Dominion and these types were represented only by some odd bones. At Duntroon Dr. Marples has found the remains of complete skeletons even to the beak, all representing new species. The only other collection of penguin fossils thill can compare with the specimens found by Dr. Marples, is in South America. but il is iu many respeels inferior. The bones of birds of all sizes were found in the sandstone, and a study of them supports tin- theory that in general penguins have decreased in size. One of the most intriguing finds made by Dr. Marples is a collarbone which indicates .that it almost certainly eame from a flying bird, probably of the albatross type. If this assumplion is proved to Incorrect. (lie specimen will lie the first fossil of a Hying bird found in New Zealand and its discovery will open up an interestittg field for speculation by Now Zealand scientists.