520 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vor.. 54. 



piscator and /S. leucogastra are practically identical in curvature and 

 size, but in S. piscator the ridge marking the insertion of the muscle 

 latissimus dorsi is placed farther from the upper margin of the 

 humerus than in S. leucogastra. When the humerus is viewed directly 

 from above (with the bone oriented in its natural position in life), 

 this ridge, in piscator^ is located near the inner marginal line, while 

 in leucogastra it is median or slightly external to the center of the 

 space. The fragment of bone from St. Croix agrees with S. piscator 

 in the position of this ridge, and is identified as that species. Sula 

 cyanops has the humerus much larger than in either of the two 

 described above. Sula piscator has not been known previously from 

 the island of St. Croix. 



NYCTANASSA VIOLACEA (Linnaeus). 



The anterior half of a right coracoid comes from the skeleton of 

 this heron. 



GALLINULA CHLOROPUS (Linnaeus). 



The distal end of a tibio-tarsus belongs to this species without 

 question, while a femur nearly complete is assigned here with some 

 hesitation. Careful comparison of femora of Fulica americana and 

 Gallinvla chloropus has shown that the two are very similar, save 

 that this bone in Gallinula is more slender, and in the specimens 

 examined the trochanteric ridge is continued ventrally to the poste- 

 rior margin of the articular surface as a sharp projection. In Fulica 

 the femur is more robust, and the trochanteric ridge lowers as it 

 passes back until it merges smoothly into the bone at a point median 

 to the posterior margin. The f ulicine femur in the collection from St. 

 Croix is somewhat more slender than that in available specimens of 

 G. chloropus from the United States and from the Seychelle Islands, 

 but has the trochanteric ridge slightly intermediate in its structure 

 between Fulica americana and Gallinula. Skeletons of Fulica cari- 

 haea Ridgway are not available at present, so that the characters of 

 the femur in this species are not known. Because of its slenderness 

 the femur from St. Croix is provisionally referred to G. chloropus. 

 This species is said to be common on the island at the present time. 



NESOTROCHIS DEBOOYI Wetmore. 



Nine of the 22 bones examined from the island of St. Croix belong 

 to this remarkable rail. All are fragments of the tibio-tarsus more 

 or less complete according to the specimen. Two of these are nearly 

 entire, three fragments come from the head of the bone, three have 

 the shaft and condyles nearly complete, while the remaining bone 

 is a badly crumbled bit from the condylar region. These fragments 

 are identical in form with those examined from St. Thomas, but 

 on the whole average stronger and heavier. Three of the bones from 



