Vol. XXXIII 



1915 



J Shufeldt, Extinct Cormorant found in Montana. 48 / 



National Museum under number 3251, and informs me that it is 

 from the Lower Miocene formation. 



Passing now to an examination of the large fragment shown in 

 Fig. 2 of the Plate, I must first deplore the fact that whoever col- 

 lected this specimen apparently labored under the impression that 

 all the fossil bones in the matrix were those of some fish, and not 

 sufficiently perfect to be of any use to the palaeontologist. He 

 therefore, very evidently, did not bring in all that he could have 

 brought, and probably would have, had he known or appreciated 

 their real value. 



All the specimens of fossil bones in this largest fragment are those 

 of some large bird or other. They consist of a rib, the proximal 

 part of a left carpometacarpus ; a large phalanx from a bird's foot; 

 also a small, pedal joint, and other pieces too fragmentary to iden- 

 tify. These fossil bones I believe all belonged to the same adult 

 individual, with the possible exception of a rib, which may be a 

 fish's rib, though I am much more inclined to believe it to be a 

 costal rib of the same individual. 



The carpometacarpus has its direct anconal aspect exposed, the 

 shaft being hollow and crushed inwards for its upper portion. This 

 bone is the key to the species which the specimens represent. Be- 

 fore making any comparisons, I pronounced that the bird repre- 

 sented was a specimen of Phalacrocorax macropus; and as a matter 

 of fact, and as subsequently proven, this upper portion of a carpo- 

 metacarpus agrees exactly, in the matters of measurement, propor- 

 tions, characters, and form with the corresponding fragment of a 

 carpometacarpus of Phalacrocorax macropus mentioned in a former 

 paragraph of this paper. (Fig. 262, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 

 July 9, 1913.) 



It is the largest bone in the matrix shown in Fig. 2 of the Plate 

 of the present paper. The one next in size is evidently the long, 

 proximal joint of the hallux (of one or the other of the feet) of this 

 cormorant. Its dorsal aspect is exposed, and its distal end is 

 opposite the proximal end of the carpometacarpus in the fragment. 

 It agrees wifh this bone of the foot in average existing cormorants, 

 apart from being considerably larger. There is no other bone in 

 the skeleton of any cormorant (Phalacrocorax) with which it can 

 be confused ; and this is the first instance of this particular bone in 



