66 R. W. Shufeldt 



Meleagris superba Cope. 



{Plate X, Figs. 71-73; Plate XI, Figs. 74-77.) 



{Meleagris alius Marsh is a synon>Tn of Meleagris superba).^ 

 Marsh, Amer. Joum. Sci., ser. 3, IV, 1872, 260. 



Cot3T)es. Cat. No. 533-536, Peabody Museum, Yale University. Manalapan, 

 near Freehold, New Jersey. Post-Pliocene. J. C. Thompson, collector. 



1 Cope, E. D. Meleagris superbns. Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc, N. S. XIV, Pt. 

 I. 1870, 239. Pleistocene of New Jersey. 



Shufeldt, R. W. "On Fossil Bird-Bones Obtained by Expeditions of the 

 University of Pennsylvania from the Bone Caves of Tennessee." Amer. Nat. 

 Phil., July, 1897, 645-650. In this paper I dispute Professor Marsh in regard to 

 his three extinct turkeys, as to their having been species distinct from the now 

 existing Meleagris gallopavo. Among other things I remark: "In the case of 

 Meleagris ailiis, Professor Marsh says that the length of the tarso-metatarsal is 

 equal to 176.5 mm. (p. 261), and the present writer says that it is by no means im- 

 common to find the same bones in adult male specimens of M. gallapavo fuUy that 



length, if not longer In other words, I am of the opinion, in so far 



as I am able to judge from his descriptions, that when Professor INIarsh described 

 his three extinct and new species of Meleagris, he had nothing more or less before 

 him than the verj- meagre and fragmentary' remains of M. gallapavo.'" 



For the first time in the history of this discussion, which took place years ago 

 between Professor Marsh and myself, I am enabled to clear the matter up. The 

 entire material upon wliich Professor Marsh based his Meleagris alius is now before 

 me for the first time. While he lived he would never allow me to see this, and 

 hence the present explanation. It will be noted above that Professor Marsh stated 

 in his article that the tarso-metatarsus of Meleagris alius had a total length of 176.5 

 millimeters. 



This measurement of Professor Marsh's is correct, as noted in the List below, 

 where I offer the lengths of all these long bones. In these measurements the approx- 

 imate lengths are very close to what the actual ones would have been. Had I 

 seen and measured all these bones before I published my criticism of Marsh's M. 

 alius, it is quite likely that it would never have appeared. As it is, in this new 

 light, I am inchned to believe that the Professor was justified in naming at least this 

 particular extinct turkey Meleagris alius (now M. superba Cope); and, judging 

 from these fossil remains, it must have been, in life, a very tall turkey indeed. 



This settles what I have to say in regard to this extinct form. As to Meleagris 

 celer and M. antiqua, I have discussed them in another connection. 



"Contributions to Avian Palaeontology." The Auk, Vol. XXX, 



No. 1, Jan. 1913, 29-39, PL III, Figs. 1-5. 



In this paper, the question of fossil Meleagridae is very fuUy discussed. 



Marsh, O. C. Articles in Amer. Joum. Sci., II, 1871, 126; also ibid, 1872, 261; 

 also Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1870, 11; and Amer. Jour. Sci., 1872, IV, 260. 



Shufeldt, R. W. (In MS.) "On the skeleton of the Ocellated Turkey 

 {Agriocharis ocellala) with Notes of the Osteology of other Meleagridae." Pis. 

 I-XIV, Figs. 1-53. This paper is at present in the hands of the editor of Aquila 

 for pubHcation (Budapest, Hungary); it contains much which is pertinent to mat- 

 ters touched upon in the present connection. (Since published: Aquila, Vol. XXI 

 Budapest, 1914, pp. 1-52; Pis. I-XIII, Figs. 1-53; text in Magyar and English.) 



