410 DR R. W. SHUFELDT. 



the osfurcula, we find it to be very ciconine in character, being 

 of the broad U-shaped variety, and without the epicleidial 

 process, so characteristic of the fourchette of all the Herons of 

 the genus Ardea. 



In Ciconia alha the furcatorial symphysis articulates with the 

 carinal angle of the sternal keel, and complete fusion takes 

 place at that point in the Balcvniceios. 



Finding the trunk-skeleton of Scopus umbretta at least nine- 

 tenths ciconine in character, I now pass to a brief consideration 

 of its appendicular skeleton. 



Of the Appendicular Skeleton : — We can gain only a little by 

 a comparison of the bones of the pectoral liinb of Scopus with 

 those of Ardea and of Ciconia, but as far as it goes, the Stork 

 characters seem to predominate over such Heron ones as are to 

 be found. 



This is seen in the greater prominence of the ulnar tuberosity 

 of the humerus, and still more clearly in the arching of the 

 shaft of the medius metacarpal of the carpo-metacarpus of 

 manus, that part of the bone in Ardea being more or less 

 parallel to the shaft of the index metacarpal. There are 

 minute claws present on the distal ends of the finger joints of 

 the pollex and index digits, but whether these are covered by 

 the skin or not in the living bird I am unable to say without 

 first having examined a fresh specimen. The humerus is 

 thoroughly pneumatic, but the bones of the forearm and 

 pinion are probably not so. None of the bones of the pelvic 

 extremity seem to be pneumatic ; the femur is partially so in 

 Ardea herodias, while it is very completely so in Ciconia alba. 

 Most of the main characters of the bones of the leg point to 

 the ciconine affhiities of Scopus, as, for example, the better 

 or more conspicuous development of the pro- and ecto-cnemial 

 processes of the tibio-tarsus ; in the more or less pronounced 

 presence of an articular facet on the lower side of the osseous 

 tendinal bridge at the antero-distal end of that bone, — which 

 facet articulates with a very pronounced semiglobular trochlea 

 on the antero-median aspect of the summit of the tarso- 

 raetatarsus, present in both Scopus and Ciconia alba, but not 

 especially noticeable in the Heron. 



In Ciconia alba the hypotarsus of the tarso-meta tarsus is 



