Fossil Birds in the Marsh Collection of Yale University 55 



Pennine species, most probably a gull. I ha\'e compared the speci- 

 men with the tibio-tarsi of numerous gulls, terns, jaegers, fulmars, etc., 

 and I find it comes nearest to the Laridoe, especially to the Ivory Gull 

 {Pagophila alba) {" Lariis eburneiis,'' No. 18593. Osteolog. Coll. U. 

 S. Nat. Mus.), the latter being of about the same size. More material 

 when discovered, will settle this point regarding the nearest relative 

 of this extinct species of Larus, for which I propose the name of 

 Larus pristinus. ^ 



LiMicoLAVis PLUViANELLA gen ft sp. nov. 



{Plate XV, Fig. 129.) 



Holotype. Cat. No. 957, Peabody Museum, Yale University. Lower Willow 

 Creek, Oregon. ? Oligocene. L. S. Davis, collector. 



Genus and species" based on a fossil right tibio-tarsus (adult), the 

 limicoline characters of which are abundantly evident, notwithstand- 

 ing the fact that the proximal end of the bone has been broken off and 

 lost. Originally, it probably had a length of about 5.8 centimeters. 

 The shaft is straight and somewhat compressed antero-posteriorly, the 

 fibular ridge or crest above being short, thin and sharp (Fig. 129). At 

 the distal extremity the condylar portion is particularly limicoline in 

 character, coming very near, in all particulars, the lower end of the 

 tibio-tarsus of the large Chilean plover known as Belonopterus chilensis, 

 with which I have compared it. Posteriorly, the condyles are nearly 

 in the same vertical plane with the back of the shaft; their edges are 

 low and sharp, the valley between them being shallow and wide. As 

 the sharp condylar rims are carried forwards, they each become 

 thicker and thicker and more rounded, until they each terminate on 

 the front of the bone below. All this part of the extremity protrudes 

 very much forward, and the intercondylar valley is here decidedly 

 deeper and narrower than it is posteriorly. The "tendinal groove" is 

 well marked and the "osseous bridge," which spans it, is so low down, 

 and, owing to the forward protrusion of the condyles, it is nearly in 

 the horizontal plane with reference to the long axis of the shaft. 

 Viewed laterally, the external condyle is of a subcircular outline, with 

 flat superficies and low bounding rim. At its center we note a small 

 tubercle. Reniform in outline and with a somewhat raised border, 

 the mesial surface of the internal condyle is likewise smooth, and 

 anterior to its center there Is a raised, ridge-like tubercle, the long 

 axis of which is parallel to the shaft of the bone. 



^ Generic name = Lat., a gull; spec, name = Lat. pristinus, early, primitive. 



