( •■i-i ) 



ON SOME EEMAINS OE AEPYOENIS IN 

 THE HON. WALTER ROTHSCHILD'S MUSEUM AT TRING. 



By C. W. ANDREWS, F.G.S. 



I AM iiKlelited to the kiniliiess of Mr. Rothschild for iiermissioii to ijivc a brief 

 (lescrijitiou of some remains of Ai'ju/ornis received at the Triiijr Museum in 

 1893. Tlie collection, though small, is of considerable interest, since it renders it 

 possible to add something to our knowledge of certain of the species. The bones 

 in question were all collected at Itampnlu Ve, a collection of hamlets on the south 

 side of the inlet from Murderers' Bay, about a hundred and twenty miles north of 

 Nossi Ve in South-West Madagascar, north of the Antinosy country of South -West 

 Madagascar.* 



A left tarso-metatarsus of very large size, which may, for the present, be 

 referred to -It', titan (see GcoL Mag., January 1894), is one of the best preserved 

 specimens in the collection, being only slightly broken at the upper end. Its most 

 striking characteristic is the great width of the ujiper end, which, though a small 

 portion of one side is broken away, is notably broader than the lower, the 

 former measuring about 19 cm. across, the latter 16-.3. In the specimen figured by 

 me in Proc. Zool. Soc, 1894, PI. xiv., figs. 1 and 2, the lower eud is rather the 

 wider of the two, and the same is the case in the metatarsus of Ae. kildcbixuidti. 

 This greatly expanded proximal end gives the bone a peculiar aspect, very different 

 from any of the metatarsi of other species of the genus with which I am aciiuaiuted, 

 and from those of the Dinornithidae. 



This specimen also differs from that of Ac. m>dleri mentioned above in the 

 following points : — 



(1) The anterior depression is proportionately somewhat shallower, and does 

 not extend quite so far down the shaft. 



(2) The groove for the cuhluctor digiti cxtcrni has at its lower end two pro- 

 jections which partly bridge it over. 



(3) The foramina interossea open at the same level. (This jioiut, however, 

 seems to be of little importance, and probably varies in different individuals.) 



(4) The point of attachment of the hallux is merely marked by a rugose 

 surface. 



On the outer side of the posterior projection formed by the middle metatarsal 

 there are two broad w(dl-marked grooves, which extend some distance down 

 the bone. 



The measurements of this specimen are : — 



Length 4.S cm. 



Width at proximal end (apjiroximate) . . . . 19 „ 



„ „ distal end I'J'S v 



„ ,, narrowest point of shaft .... >>'0 ., 



Circumference at narrowest point of shaft . . . 20-lJ „ 



Width (ai)proximate) of middle trochlea . . • 6'5 „ 



* This Antinosy country, wliicU has boon mentioucil several times before (sec p. 6(;e, Vol. I.) in this 

 journal, is part of the okl Mahafale country, lying north of the St. Augnstine's River, about seventy 

 miles or so east from Nossi Yi. It is not to be mistaken for the other Antinosy country in South-East 

 Madagascar, and the place of Nossi \t is not to be mistaken fnr the well-known island of Nossi Bu on 

 the north-west coast of Madagascar. — Editors 



