196 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



outer is the thicker and most rounded, while posteriorly the sur- 

 faces of both merge together. 



In the fibula, the head is large and produced backward. The 

 bone never anchyloses with the tibiotarsus in this species, and 

 after passing the fibular ridge, dwindles to a mere thread, being 

 produced to a point something over a centimeter above the ex- 

 ternal condyle of the main bone of the leg [fig. ly, 28, 29]. 



Ever full of interest to the ornithotomist, the tarsometatarsus in 

 G . b a n k i V a is the more especially so, on account of the conical 

 osseous calcar which is firmly anchylosed to the roughened longi- 

 tudinal line and to the shaft at the lower third of its length. 



To its base and mesial aspect this calcar or bony spur core is worn 

 absolutely smooth and shiny by the constant chafing of the ossified 

 neighboring tendons which bear against it during the life of the 

 bird. The " hypotarsus " of this bone is roughly cubical in form , 

 has one complete, perforating tendinal passage to its inner aspect, 

 posterior to which the longitudinal margin, mesiad, is thickened and 

 terminated below as a sharpened process [fig. 23]. For the rest, 

 to its outer side, two faint tendinal grooves traverse it lengthwise. 

 Anteriorly, the tarsometatarsus is guttered out for the full length of 

 its shaft — faintly so for its distal moiety, conspicuously so, prox- 

 imad — the latter gradually shallowing as we pass from above, 

 downward [fig. 24]. 



At the lower end of the bone we find the usual arterial foramen 

 perforating it: and trochleae here are large and prominent [fig. 25]. 

 A distinct facet is seen above the inner one, intended for the articu- 

 lation of the rather large " accessorv metatarsal "' of this fowl. 



COMPAR.\TIVE LENGTHS IN CENTIMETERS OF BONES 

 IN PECTORAL AND PELVIC LIMBS 



MALE 



FEMALE 



Length of humerus 



Length of ulna 



Length of radius 



Length of metacarpus 



length of pollex digit 



Length of pinion including the phalanges of digit 



Length of femur 



Length of tibiotarsus 



Length of fibula 



Length of tarsometatarsus 



Length of basal joint of hallux 



Length of basal joint of mid anterior toe 



Total length of mid toe 



6.6 

 6.5 

 5-9 

 3-5 

 1.4 

 5-7 

 7.4 



Coming next to the skeleton of pes in this wild G . b a n k i v a , 

 we find the arrangement of the osseous phalanges of the several 

 digits to be upon the most normal plan of 2, 3, 4 and 5, reckoning 



