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PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM 



vol. 84 



small, located in a slightly indicated, narrow groove; posterior sur- 

 face of shaft with raised margins, making a broad, shallow trough ; 

 facet for articulation of first toe well marked, rather elevated on side 

 of shaft; supporting base for trochleae broad and flattened, with 

 the curve of the trochlea open; inner trochlea with distal margin 

 even with middle trochlea, rounded, with internal face somewhat 

 excavated, anterior surface smoothly rounded, with a flattened plate, 

 most of which has been broken away, projecting from its free mar- 

 gin ; internal intertrochlear sulcus open, but relatively narrow ; middle 

 trochlea small, projecting somewhat anteriorly beyond those on 

 either side, nearly round in lateral outline, its free margin deeply 

 grooved, on the posterior face descending abruptly into shaft; the 

 entire trochlea distinctly smaller than those on either side; outer 

 trochlea viewed from outer face a flat, crudely elliptical plate, its 



margin not extended quite so far 

 as the end of the middle trochlea ; 

 outer trochlea posteriorly de- 

 veloped in an angular plate that 

 extends much farther back than 

 the other two, the plate in ques- 

 tion much narrowed, being less 

 than half the width of the main 

 part of the trochlea; external in- 

 FiGURE li.-Faico ramenta, new species : tertrochlear sulcus narrow and 

 Distal end of tarso-metatarsus of type gliallow ; inferior foramen on pos- 



(U.S.N.M. no. 13898). Twice natural , . „ ,. ,^-, 



gj^e tenor surface a tmy rounded 



opening, located at a point above the base of the outer trochlea. 

 Specimen well fossilized ; color dull ivory, mottled with gray. 



Measurements. — Greatest transverse breadth across troclilea, 5.3 

 mm; smallest transverse breadth of shaft, 2.3 mm. 



Remarks. — The species here described, from the evidence to be 

 found in the lower end of the metatarsus, was about the size of the 

 male of the small race of sparrow hawk resident in Florida, Falco 

 sparverius paulus (Howe and King). The elevation of the inferior 

 foramen on the shaft is similar to what is found in the sparrow 

 hawks, the pigeon hawks having this opening nearer the base of the 

 outer trochlea. The metatarsus in the fossil, however, is distinctly 

 heavier, and the facet for the articulation of the first digit is ex- 

 tended farther up the shaft, characters that distinguish F. colwnba- 

 rius and F. sparverius as species. It seems, therefore, that F. ra- 

 menta was related more nearly to the pigeon hawks, being dis- 

 tinguished from any of the living forms in this group by decidedly 

 smaller size. This difference is more evident in the smaller, more 



