REPORT ON NATIONAL MUSEUM. «305 



Shufeldt, Robert W. — The number of bones at present known in 

 the pectoral and pelvic limbs of birds. 



(Amer. Naturalist, November, 1882, No. 2, vol. XVI, pp. 892-81)5.) 

 A review of the present knowledge of the various bones to be found in tho 

 appendicular skeleton of birds, both adult and young. A table is presented 

 showing the number for the upper extremity, where they amount to twenty, 

 and also one for the lower extremity, where twenty-nine bones have been 

 described and attributed to this limb. In neither ease, however, do all these 

 segments ever occur in the same subject. 



The bite of the Gila Monster (Heloderma suspectum). 



(Amer. Naturalist, Nov. 1882, pp. 907, 908. J 



An account of the personal experi nee of the author, who was bitten by 

 a Heloderm, at the Smithsonian Institution. No bad results followed after 

 the recovery from the origin; 1 1 wound, which was severe and caused serious 

 symptoms at the time of its infliction. The saliva of the same specimen was 

 subsequently examined by Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, of Philadelphia, then en- 

 gaged, in experimenting upon poisonous reptiles. This eminent investigator 

 pronounced the mixed buccal secretions of the Gila Monster to be poisonous 

 in their effects when taken into the course of the human circulation. 



Contributions to the Anatomy of Birds. 



(Department of the Interior, United States Geological and Geographical 

 Survey, F. V. Hayden, U. S. Geologist, ui charge. Author's edition, extracted 

 from the Twelfth Annual Report of the Survey, pp. 593 to 806, inclusive. 

 Twenty-four lith. plates and many cuts ; Washington, October 14, 1882.) 



A collection of the author's early papers, revised and rewritten. An account 

 is given, for the first time, of the skeleton of Speotyto cunicvlaria hypogwa. 

 The osseus system of Cremophila alpestri*, and Laniits Ivdovicianvs excubitoride8 

 is also described. In the "North American Tetraonidse" full descriptions 

 are presented, in systematic tables, of the geographical ranges and varia- 

 tions of all the American partridges and grouse. These are followed by 

 complete investigations of the osseous systems of the various species, and 

 comparisons with a long list of kindred forms. A new bone, the " pentosteon," 

 is described for the carpus of the young of Centrocireus, and the striking simi- 

 larity between the skeletons of Citpidonia and Pediacetes is for the first time 

 brought before the attention of anatomists. The most complete of these pa- 

 pers is that on the osteology of the Cathartidae. The Calhartida'are shown to 

 be entirely distinct from the Old World vultures and the Falconirfce, and many 

 points in the skeletons go to support this conclusion. The genus Peeudogry- 

 phus, made by Ridgway, is confirmed by these studies, and an account is 

 given of many of the bones of this rare vulture. 



The habits of Murcenopsis tridactylus in captivity; with obser- 

 vations on its anatomy. 



(Science, Cambridge, Mass., August 10, 1HS:>, No. 27, vol. n, pp. 159-103,4 

 figs.) 



A quite full account of several individuals of the Three-fingered Siren, 

 which the author kept in confinement while making collections in Louisiana. 

 Attention is called to the prevailing superstition on the part of the people of 

 all classes in that State in regard to the bite of this reptile, but from personal 

 experience the author proves its hartnlessness. A very full description of the 

 skeleton iagiveu,with illustrations of the most important parts of its anatomy. 



U. Mis, 69 ;JU 



