38 R. W. Shufeldt 



bird of that species. Further on in the article he says: "Its nearest 

 allies will probably be found in Diatrynia and Gaslornis, from essen- 

 tially the same geological horizon." 



This phalanx, upon which Marsh attempted to establish his 

 Barornis regens, in all probability belonged to the skeleton of a Dia- 

 tryma. I have compared these several phalanges of Diatryma ajax 

 from the Collections of the American Museum of Natural History of 

 New York City and the Peabody Museum of Yale University, with 

 the corresponding ones in the mounted specimen of a Dinornis maxi- 

 mus (No. 5501, U. S. Nat. Mus.), and with the pedal phalanges of 

 various other ostrich birds of existing genera from all parts of the 

 world; I am of the opinion that Barornis regens of Marsh should be 

 relegated to the genus Diatryma of Cope as Diatryma regens, and this 

 is what I here recommend.^ 



Judging from the several places of discovery; their distances apart 

 and the diferences in time; the morphological diferences in the speci- 

 mens themselves as shown in my various pubHshed figures of them; 

 that Marsh went so far as to create a new genus for one of them {Baror- 

 nis); and that, as in the case of existing ostrich birds where they occur 

 in the avifaunse in various parts of the world, the species may be more 

 or less numerous, it would seem to be quite likely that there existed, 

 between the borders now known as the Mexican and Canadian boun- 

 dary lines, at least three species of these birds (and perhaps more) 

 representing this genus Diatryma. 



These were: 



Diatryma gigantea Cope. 

 Diatryma regens (Marsh). 

 Diatryma ajax Shufeldt. 



As indicated by their foot-bones (phalanges), Diatryma ajax was 

 a stout and heavy form, corresponding to some of the Moas in their 

 genus; Diatryma regens was of a more slender type; while in the case 

 of Diatryma gigantea we have still to discover examples of its pedal 

 phalanges. Indeed, through discovery of more material than we have 

 up to date, we wiU gain a wider knowledge of these species than we 

 have at the present time. I am still of the opinion that D. ajax was a 

 much bigger and especially taller bird than even that ponderous avian 

 giant, Diatryma gigantea, and I am inclined to think that the tarso- 



1 As pointed out in the literature above, Cope described Diatrynia gigantea in 

 1876 and Marsh his Barornis regens in 1894; therefore Barornis regens simply be- 

 comes a synonym of Diatryma regens, Marsh having referred the species to the 

 wrong genus.) 



