( 20 ) 



ill lliu British Museum wliicLi is ]ierliaps that of Midli'rontig aijilis Mii-Kdw. & 

 Grand. ; tliis hitter is also iiroportionately narrower at the distal eud. Inwards 

 which the shaft widens more gradually. 



Other characters of the present specimen are : — 



(1) The anterior depression seems to disappear rather highei' up the siiaft 

 than in the metatarsus of Aepyoniis. 



(2) The tubercle for the insertion of the tendon of the l.iljMis aniicus is not 

 very prominent, but the depression above it into whicli the foramina intfrossea open 

 is very deeji. 



(;5) The intermuscular ridges on the posterior surface are strongly marked, 

 especially towards the distal end. 



The length is apjiroximately 28 cm., and the circumfereuce of the shaft at the 

 narrowest point 8-5 cm. 



The most imjKjrtant peculiarity of all is, however, tlie presence of a completely 

 ossified bony bridge over the lower end of the groove for the adductor of the outer 

 digit, a character absent in the more slender metatarsus above mentioned, as well as in 

 the metatarsi of the species oi Aepyornis at present known. According to MM. Milne- 

 Edwards and Grandidier, a similar bridge occurs in the type metatarsus of Mallerorais 

 nulls., to which species, as far as one can judge from the description, the present speci- 

 men may belong. Since this character is absent in some other specimens referable 

 to species of Mullerorniis that 1 have seen, and since it is not stated to occur in the 

 metatarsi of M. betsilei and M. ayilis, it would appear that of these comparatively 

 small forms there are two distinct types which seem to be entitled to generic 

 distinction. In the diagnosis vi MiiUe/vrtiis no mention is made of the occurrence 

 of an ossified bridge over the tendon of the extensor of the outer digit, so that 

 J/, betsilei and M. ayilis must retain their present designation, while for the 

 species in which this structure does occur, represented at present by M. rudis only, 

 the generic name Flacowtia* may be proposed, the genus being probably 

 further characterised by the greater proportionate stoutness and tlie more powerful 

 articulations of its limb-bones. 



* Flacourt, whose account of Madagascar, entitled Histoirt' i]f la graiule Isle Mailagaacar^ was 

 published at I'aris in 16.i8, was for some years Governor of Fort Danphiu, and travelled much in the 

 island. Isid. Geoifroy St. Hilairu and other writers have suggestcl that the bird called Votiran patra, 

 described in the aljove-inenlioned work, may have been one of the smaller species of ratite birds, not 

 extinct at that date. 



