446 RESIDUE OF EXTINCT BIRDS OF QUEENSLAND AS YET DETECTED, 



structure. This ground of satisfaction the rocks vouchsafe in the 

 case of the extinct emu Dromaius patricius. Since certain of its 

 remains were brought under notice* the following additional parts 

 of its skeleton have been discovered : — A part of the distal end of 

 a femur, the proximal third of a tarsometatarse, the calcaneal 

 region of another metatarse, and the distal end of a third example 

 of that bone. It was inferred from the remains then described 

 that D. patrichis possessed a proportionately shorter and stronger 

 leg than the living species D. novw-hollandice, and under the 

 guidance of this conception, the distal extremity of a metatarse, 

 which was observed to be even smaller and slimmer than that of 

 the recent bird, was necessarily excluded from the bones referred 

 to D. patricius, and the hope was entertained that sooner or later 

 a fossil would be forthcoming to declare the exclusion justifiable. 

 By good hap the expectation has been promptly realised. The 

 true distal end of the metatarse of D. patricius proves to be con- 

 formable with the rest of the limb, and consequently the discarded 

 fossil must be taken as presumptive evidence of the existence of a 

 distinct species. Apart from size and proportions it is distinguished 

 by a negative character peculiar to itself. It is well known that 

 in the common emu, as in most birds, the main tibiometatarsal 

 artery before reaching the trochlear expansion gives off a large 

 branch — the plantar artery, — which, in order to reach the sole of 

 the foot, passes through the bone between the bases of the middle 

 and external trochlear processes by a perforation, which is the sole 

 remnant of the original tripartite separation of the metatarsals. 

 In the emu this perforation opens, not on the surface of the bone, 

 but on the bottom of an oblong depression or pit, of which its 

 oval aperture occupies more than the proximal half. Through the 

 substance of the bone which forms the distal limit of the depression 

 a second tunnel is driven longitudinally and opens upon the surface 

 between the two trochleas. The foramen of the anteroposterior or 

 plantar canal is large — 4*5 x 1*5 mm. — and its proximal end is 

 13.5 mm. from the intertrochlear surface. 



* P.L.S.N.S.W. Vol. iii. (2), pt. 3, p. 1290. 



