390 Mr. R. Lydekker on 



the borders of Baden and Switzerland^ as well as from the 

 Lower Miocene of Allier, so that the genus is comparatively 

 an old one. In the allied genus Bernicla, the humerus may 

 be distinguished from that of Anser by the sudden rise of the 

 delto-pectoral crest from the shaft ; while the coracoid is more 

 slender and has a larger pneumatic foramen. Coracoids pre- 

 senting these characters from the Shandon cave^ Co. Water- 

 ford^ have been provisionally referred to the Barnacle Goose 

 {B. leucopsis), but it is by no means certain that they do not 

 belong to the commoner Brent Gooss {B. brenta), to which 

 species have been tentatively assigned a radius from Walt- 

 hamstow, and a coracoid from Kirkdale cave. 



Among the Swans {Cygnina) remains indistinguishable 

 from those of the Hooper {Cygnus musicus) have been ob- 

 tained from the brick-earths of Ilford and Grays, and also 

 from superficial deposits at Dungarvan, Co, Waterford, 

 Ireland, while M. Milne-Edwards records others from the 

 fens of Cambridgeshire. A series of bones from Southery 

 fen, Norfolk, preserved in the British Museum, may belong 

 either to a female of this species, or to the somewhat smaller 

 Polish Swan (C. immutabilis). To the still smaller Bewick^s 

 Swan (C bewicki) have been provisionally assigned some 

 bones from the Shandon cave, Co. Waterford, and also a 

 tarso-metatarsus in the British Museum from the peat of 

 Monmouthshire . 



Coming to the Ducks or Anatince, we have first to notice 

 the occurrence of a species of Tadorna in the Pleistocene of 

 Brixham cave, near Torquay, as exemplified by a large series 

 of specimens in the British Museum. These bones indicate 

 a bird of somewhat larger size than the Ruddy Sheldrake 

 (7". casarca). One of these specimens shows the great 

 development of the keel of the sternum, and the square 

 shape of the pneumatic foramen leading into this keel, 

 by which Tadorna may be distinguished from Anas. Re- 

 mains of the Mallard [Anas boscas) are recorded by 

 M. Milne-Edwards from the fens of Cambridgeshire, and 

 egg-shells from a river-deposit near Salisbury have like- 

 wise been referred to this species. Bones of the Common 



