26 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 85 



it has been reported casually east to Arizona, according to Swarth * 

 these records lack confirmation. Miller ^ has identified an ulna from 

 cave deposits of uncertain age near Las Vegas, Nevada. The same 

 author ^ in writing of the occurrence of this species in the Pleistocene 

 asphalt beds of Rancho La Brea at Los Angeles, California, says that 

 it is the most common of the American vultures in these deposits, its 

 remains occurring in almost incredible abundance. With large series 

 of Pleistocene material for examination he found remarkable uni- 

 formity when compared with bones from modern specimens. 



The report of this species from the Pleistocene of Florida is the 

 first note of the occurrence of a condor-like bird in eastern North 

 America and gives an entirely unexpected extension of range for 

 this species during the Ice Age. Discovery of further remains will be 

 awaited with interest. 



Family TERATORNITHIDAE 

 TERATORNIS MERRIAMI L. H. Miller 



Teratornis 



Teratornis vicrriaini L. H. Miller, Univ. California Publ. Geol., vol. 5, Sep- 

 tember ID, 1909, p. 307, figs. 1-9. 



Among fossils collected by W. W. Holmes in the Seminole area 

 there were found a number of small fragments of bones from what 

 was evidently a very large form of bird. After some study it was 

 clear that these were from some large vulture so that on prelimi- 

 nary examination they were placed among remains assigned to the 

 condors. Critical study indicated certain puzzling differences from 

 both the California and the South American condors and it was with 

 much surprise that they were found to come from the great Tera- 

 tornis known previously only from California where its remains have 

 been found in the asphalt deposits at Rancho La Brea, McKittrick 

 and Carpinteria. 



As stated above the remains from the Holmes collection are all 

 highly fragmentary. The distal end of a left ulna (figs. 9-1 1), one 

 of the most characteristic bits, agrees minutely in its somewhat intri- 

 cate details with two specimens of Teratornis from California. Two 

 bits of humeri include the articular surface of the head and the 

 radial trochlea of a left humerus. There are further the distal ends 



' Pac. Coast Avif., No. 10, May 25, 1914, p. 83. 



^ Condor, 1931, p. 32. 



'Carnegie Inst., Washington, Publ. No. 349, August, 1925, p. 81. 



