354 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



scarcely produced at all below the ridge on the outer side of its 

 companion bone in the leg of this cuckoo ; above the ridge, however, 

 a better development is evidenced, and a moderately large head 

 is offered for articulation with the femur. 



Tarsomctatarsus is nearly a perfectly straight bone in C o c - 

 cystes glandarius with its cuculine characters well marked. 

 Cubical in form, its " hypotarsus " juts directly out from the prox- 

 imal end of the shaft behind, and is pierced by two small foramina, 

 vertically. The articular facets for the tibiotarsial condyles at the 

 summit are much concaved, with a peglike apophysis standing be- 

 tween them. All the sides of the shaft are more or less flat, though 

 a longitudinal groove runs nearly the entire length posteriorly, and 

 for the upper moiety another one anteriorly. Accessory meta- 

 tarsal is comparatively of good size, and of the three trochlear proc- 

 esses occupying the distal end of the bone the middle one descends 

 the lowest; that for the second toe next; while the one for the 

 outer toe is considerably elevated. The foramen for the passage 

 of the anterior tibial artery is entire, and is found in its usual 

 groove. 



Podal digits are long and unusually well developed for a tree 

 cuckoo, and these phalanges run, from the first to the fourth toe 

 respectively, 2, 3, 4 and 5 joints each, and, as in other cuckoos, the 

 fourth digit is permanently reversed. 



Proportionately, the long bones of the pelvic limb of Coc- 

 cystes glandarius are both relatively, as well as actually, 

 much longer than the corresponding ones in the leg of C u c u 1 u s 

 c a n o r u s , and this is interesting from the fact that no such great 

 differences characterize the bones of the skeleton of the wing in 

 these birds [see antea]. Aleasurements go to show that in Coc- 

 cystes the femur has an extreme length of 2.8 centimeters ; the 

 tibiotarsus 5.2 centimeters; the tarsomctatarsus 2.7 centimeters; 

 and the longest anterior digit (3d toe) 3.4 centimeters. For 

 C u c u 1 u s c a n o r u s the corresponding bones measure 2 centi- 

 meters ; 4 centimeters, 2.3 centimeters ; and the toe 2.6 centimeters. 

 In other words, the pelvic limb, with respect to its skeleton, is 

 comparatively longer in proportion to the size of the species, and 

 better developed in Coccystes than it is in Cuculus, where the de- 

 velopment is feeble, even in comparison with the skeleton of its own 

 pectoral limb. 



Finally, it will be seen, from what has gone before, that there 

 are excellent osteological characters distinguishing these two nat- 



