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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



siclerable interval exists. But this interval is by no means as 

 marked as it is, comparatively speaking, in either the geese or in 

 many ducks, as for example Netta rufina, the eiders, and 

 others. In the Blue-winged teal (O. discors) the interval is 

 by no means great, while in CI an gu la islandica, owing 

 to the unusual length of the lower limb of the lacrymal, the 

 interval in question is even still less. 



Fig. 39 



Fig. 40 



Fig. 39 Right lateral view of skull of Dendrocygna autumnalis. [U. S. 

 Nat. Mus. Collec. no. 1491] From a photograph by the author; somewhat reduced 



Fig. 40 Right lateral view of the pelvis, portion of vertel)ral column and ribs. From 

 the same specimen; reduction the same 



In Dendrocygna there appears to be a special little process di- 

 rected backward from the inferoposterior part of either quadrate, 

 that is absent in Olor, Anas and Branta ; and in Dendrocygna, too, 

 the median, anterosuperior part of the mesethmoid is not produced 

 forward as it is in Anas plat y r h y n c h o s , but stops ab- 

 ruptly at the craniofacial hinge beneath. This is doubtless due to 

 the greater elongation of the skull in the Mallard, and, at the best, 

 the character is a very trivial one, as is also the process on the quad- 



