166 Miscellaneous. 
elaphus, C. capreolus, Sus scrofa, and Custor europaeus. Finally, I 
have been able to recognize several species of birds, such as the 
swan (Cygnus ferus), the wild duck (Anas boschas), the teal (Anas 
querquedula), the crested grebe (Podiceps cristatus), the bittern 
(Ardea stellaris), and the coot (Fulica atra). These birds still occur 
in great abundance on the east coast of England. Their presence 
in the turbaries, therefore, cannot surprise us; but this is not the 
case with the pelican, which does not belong to the British fauna ; 
for the few individuals which have been met with there had been 
carried by the winds very far from the regions which they usually 
inhabit. Now the existence of our pelican in the peaty deposits of 
Cambridge cannot be explained in this way. The bone in question 
is Festal in fact, from a young bird, consequently too weak to 
undertake a distant journey. A glance at the fossil the history of 
which I am giving is sufficient to prove that the work of ossification 
was not completed, as is indicated by the state of the articular ex- 
tremities. We cannot, therefore, think for one moment that this 
bird has quitted Africa or the south of Russia, and, being turned 
from its course by atmospheric currents, has come to die in England 
upon the edge of the marshes in which the peaty layers in which it 
was discovered were being deposited. Such an explanation as this 
is inadmissible; and this pelican was evidently a native of that 
country. 
The humerus here referred to is of very considerable dimensions. 
Its articular extremities are imperfect ; it is not, therefore, entire, 
and evidently with increased age it would have become considerably 
elongated. Nevertheless it measures about 37 centimetres. Know- 
ing the length of the arm-bone, we may easily deduce from it that 
of the entire wing ; for in the pelicans the proportions of the various 
bones which form the solid framework of the anterior limb vary very 
little. Thus, if we represent the length of the humerus of these 
birds by 100, that of the forearm would be 113, and that of the 
hand 78. Consequently, assuming that in our pelican from the 
turbaries the proportions of these bones were the same, the forearm 
would have measured 42 and the hand 29 centimetres, which brings 
the whole length of the wing without its feathers to 1:08 metre. 
I have compared the fossil from the Cambridge turbaries with 
several arm-bones of adult pelicans belonging to different species, 
such as Pelecanus onocrotalus, P. crispus, P. philippinensis, and P. 
thagus, but I have not found one the dimensions of which were the 
same; even the largest onocrotali scarcely approach it. Must we 
therefore regard the bird from the turbaries as a distinct species, of 
larger size? This supposition seems a very probable one; but it 
would perhaps be premature to attempt at present to establish a 
new specific type; and before inscribing it upon our scientific cata- 
logues, it seems to me that it will be more prudent to wait until 
further researches have led to the discovery of some parts of the 
skeleton of adult birds, which may make known to us more accu- 
rately the proportions of our British pelican.— Comptes Sonus, 
June 22, 1868, pp. 1242-1244. 
