20 R. W. Shufeldt 



feet, distorted, and so meagre and characterless, that it is simply out 

 of the question to determine what kind of a bird it originally be- 

 longed to in life. One thing is very sure, however: it never formed 

 a part of a skeleton of a bird that had any special relation to the 

 Phalacrocoracidoe. 



As a specimen,, it is valueless for the purpose of correct determina- 

 tion, even for the subordinal group. 



Graculavus agilis ]\Iarsh. 

 {Plate XIII, Fig. 91.) 



Marsh, Amer. Joum. Sci., sen 3, V, 1873, 230. 



Holotype. Cat. No. 1209, Peabody Museum, Yale University. Battle Creek, 

 Kansas. Cretaceous. O. C. Marsh, collector. 



Two fragments of fossil bones, one of which is from a bird (Fig. 

 91); the other does not appear to be (Fig. 92). The fragment that 

 can be determined is the upper or pro.ximal end of the main shaft of 

 the left carpo-metacarpus of some bird about the size of a Ptarmigan 

 {Lagopus). It is extremely imperfect, chipped all over and very 

 much abraded. Further, it is quite without characters, and from it 

 alone it is entirely out of the question to judge as to what kind of a 

 bird it belonged to in life. To say that it came from the skeleton of 

 an extinct bird related to the Cormorants (Phalacrocoracidoe) , is a 

 statement that no reasonable avian palaeontologist would entertain 

 for a moment. 



Graculavus lentus Marsh. 



(= Pcdiceceles phasianeilus (Linnaeus). See page 25.) 



Graculavus [sp.?] 



{Plate XV, Figs. 125, 126.) 



Cat. Nos. 916, 917, Peabody Museum, Yale University. Homerstown, New 

 Jersey. Cretaceous. From Cream Ridge, Marl Co. 



As will be seen by turning to Plate XV, Figures 125 and 126, the 

 specimens representing a "new genus and species of Graculavus" are 

 simply two pieces of the shafts of long bones which, whether they be 

 birds, mammals, or reptiles, are worthless for the purposes of identi- 

 fication. If from birds (Nos. 916, 917), it would be simply impossible 

 to say as to what kind of birds possessed them in their skeletons in 

 life. 



