ANSEEE8. 97 



ui^ou which the insufflcientlj defined genus Ftenornis^ was 

 based. Hastinrjs CuUeciion. Purchased, 1855. 



A. 144. Cast of the proximal extremity of a left femur provisionally 

 referred to this species. The original was obtained from 

 Hordwcll, and is preserved in the Museum of Practical 

 Geology. The specimen agrees in relative size with the 

 coracoid. Its chief distinctive feature is the length of the 

 neck ; but it agrees with the Flamingoes and Storks in 

 the inward inclination of the posterior portion of the 

 outer surface of the greater trochanter. 



Made in the Museum, 1890. 



Suborder IX. ANSERES. 



Desmognathous birds in which the angle of the mandible is greatly 

 produced and recurved, the rostrum is frequently broad and spatu- 

 late, and the hind limbs are comparatively short, the tarso-meta- 

 tarsus being especially abbreviated. 



The tarso-metatarsus (fig. 28) is short and stout, with a nearly 

 cylindrical shaft, which has no posterior groove ; head and talon 

 complex, the latter having four ridges, of which the innermost is 

 the most prominent, and unites more or less completely with the 

 second to convert the first groove into a tube ; third and fourth 

 distal trochlcfe very large and long, the second much smaller than 

 the fourth, only descending a short distance below the base of the 

 third, and much reflected posteriorly '■. The facet for the hallux 13 

 scarcely perceptible. 



The tibio-tarsus is a very characteristic bone, easily recognized 

 by the inflection of the distal extremity, the deeply sunk and hori- 

 zontal extensor bridge (fig. 27), and the absence of an intercondylar 

 tubercle ; the cnemial crest is large and projects above the head ; 

 the prominent fibular crest occupies nearly one third the length of 

 the bone ; and the distal condyles (more especially the inner one) 

 arc very prominent. 



The femur is short, generally stout, and but slightly curved, with 

 its distal extremity much expanded. 



The coracoid is slender and slightly articulated to the sternum ; 



' Seeley, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 3, vol. xviii. p, 109 (1866).— No specific 

 name. 



^ This arrangement is the same as in the Odontoglossi, with which tlie 

 Anseres also agree in the great width of the proximal intercotylar tuberosity of 

 the tarso-metatarsus. 



u 



