248 OSTEOLOGY OP ANSERES. 



low, be.ug deepest anteriorly. Above it, in front, the direction of the 

 deeply excavated groove for the extensor tendons is influenced by the 

 obliquity of the bone spoken of above. The bony bridge that spans it 



is thrown directly across. 



Nothing of particular interest marks the fibula, it having the form 

 we usually find in the class. In this specimen of the Spoon-bill its 

 feeble lower end anchyloses with the tibio-tarsal shaft at about half 

 way down its length. It is very much longer in Olor, where its method 

 of ending is the same. 



Equaling about half the length of the leg bone it articulates with, the 

 tarso metatarsus also proves to be a strong, stout segment in the limb 

 of this Duck. Its hypotarsus is flat and inconspicuous, being marked 

 by three vertical grooves for tendons. The four ridges thus formed 

 graduate in size, the innermost one being the longest and most promi- 

 nent. The sides of the shaft of this bone are, for the major part, flat, 

 a slight excavation being seen at the upper end of the anterior one. 



The trochlea' at the distal extremity are very prominent and well in- 

 dividualized by the deep clefts that severally divide them. They all 

 have median grooves passing around them from before backward. The 

 mid trochlea is much the lowest of the three, as well as the largest, while 

 the inner one is placed the highest on the shaft, being at the same time 

 turned slightly to the rear. The usual arterial foramen occupies its 

 site, as in other birds. 



Agreeing with the group generally, Spatula possesses but a feebly 

 developed accessory metatarsal, with a correspondingly weak hallux 

 composed of a basal phalanx and claw, the whole being suspended 

 rather high on the tarsometatarsal shaft by ligament. This discrep- 

 ancy in size of the hind toe is likewise seen in the Swans, where it is 

 even still more evident. Second, third, and fourth digits, however, 

 having three, four, and five joints, respectively, are quite the reverse 

 from this, being composed of bones fully in keeping, so far as their size 

 and strength go, with the substantial segments of the limb to which 

 they belong. 



Of these joints the basal ones take the lead in point of length, and it 

 is only in the outer podal digit of the Duck where we And that its pe- 

 nultimate phalanx exceeds the joint that precedes it in this particular 



NOTES OiN A SKULL OF 15RANTA CANADENSIS HTJTCHINSII. 



The characters of the skull as they are seen among the smaller of our 

 American Geese are well exemplified in the subject of these brief com- 

 parative notes. 



Tins specimen of Branta I collected several years ago on the Platte 

 River, in Wyoming, and prepared it as a skeleton at the time. 



I present four figures, giving the four principal views of this Goose's 

 skull of the size of nature. Viewing it from the side, we find asuperior 

 osseous mandible of the form 1 mentioned in the synopsis of characters, 



