10() Records of ihc Indian Museum. [Vol. XV, 



through the courtesy of Dr. N. Annanclalc, Superintendent of the Zoolo- 

 gical Department of the Indian Museum, was given the opportunity to 

 examine the type specimen of Bcdaenoptera edeni as well as a skeleton^ 

 referred to the same species which was secured on January 21, 1890, 

 at Sidhi Island, Noahkolly (Noakhali), Bengal, by C. E. F. Tonnerre, 

 Esq. The latter, I believe, has not been reported upon. Unfortunately 

 I had to leave Calcutta rather hastily and was not able to examine the 

 Sidhi Island skeleton in detail but several of the bones were removed 

 from the storage case for my inspection. 



The most important characters in which B. edeni differs from other 

 species according to Anderson are in the skull and atlas. He says that 

 the skull of this species is remarkable for the " little downward shelving 

 of the upper surface of the maxillae ;" also " in the character of its beak, 

 which is long and slender, and much more forwardly directed than the 

 beak of B. schlegeW (=-S. borealis). 



These characters appeared to me to be of considerable importance 

 from a study of Dr. Anderson's figures and I find that they truly 

 represent the condition of the specimen. They are borne out, in a some- 

 what less degree, by a skull from Arakan (which was reported upon by 

 Anderson) and in the Sidhi Island skull ; unfortunately when I examined 

 the latter the premaxillae were not in position but the bones appeared 

 to be similar to those of the type. 



The beaks of all three skulls are narrower at the base in proportion 

 to the length and the breadth at the middle than are those of B. 

 borealis and consequently the beak has a somewhat different shape. 

 These characters a]»pear to me to be of considerable importance but the 

 others which Dr. Anderson mentions in his description are probably not 

 beyond the limits of individual variation. 



The atlas (pi. XV, figs. 1, 2) of this species is very interesting. 

 Dr. Anderson remarks " The neural canal has considerable breadth 

 (3 inches) and is much broader tnan high. The notch for the reception 

 of the odontoid swelling of the axis lying below it is much contracted. 

 The transverse process of the atlas is well-defined, rather long, but 

 basally shallow ; very different from the deep wing-like twisted trans- 

 verse process of B. schlegeli, as figured and described by Flovs^er. The 

 articular surfaces of the axis practically meet below, being separated 

 from each other by 0-25 inch in the dried bone, and have thus no facet 

 between them as in B. schlegeli {—B. borealis), {I. c, p. 558). 



I verified Dr. Anderson's observations and drawings of the atlas 

 from the type specimen and they are substantiated by the atlas of the 

 Sidhi Island skeleton, figures of which are represented herewith. Com- 

 parison of the atlas of either of these spec^'mens with any published 

 figures of the corresponding bone of B. borealis will show immediately 

 that the differences are just those which are pointed out by Dr. Anderson 

 in the paragraph quoted above. 



All of the skeletons of B. borealis upon which observations have been 

 recorded, with one exception, have possessed cervical ribs ankylosed 

 with the first thoracic ribs. Dr. Anderson remarks that a fragment of 



1 Specimen b in Sclater's Cat, Mamm, Ind. Mas., II, p. 311 (1891). 



