336 Mr. H. E. Strickland on the Dodo and its Kindred. 



previously unattainable. The three metatarsal bones of the 

 Solitaire figured in the 'Dodo and its Kindred' (plate 15. f. 2, 

 3, 4) are all more or less defective, one being incrusted with 

 stalagmite, the other two much decayed and broken. The two 

 additional bones now referred to supply in great measure these 

 defects. One of them indeed is incrusted with stalagmite, and 

 is evidently part of the same individual as the similarly incrusted 

 bones in the Paris Museum which are figured in plates 13, 14 

 and 15. This is evident, not only from comparison with its fel- 

 low bone (pi. 15. f. 3), but from the following label attached to 

 it by Prof. Bojer, Curator of the Mauritius Museum : — " Tarsus 

 of the Dronte, being a remaining fragment of a more perfect 

 skeleton sent by M. Julien Desjardins to the Baron G. Cuvier. 

 The said skeleton was found in a cave at the island Rodrigue by 

 M. Roquefeuille, inhabitant of Mauritius." 



The second metatarsal now sent is a remarkably perfect bone, 

 the only defective portion being the posterior surface of the ecto- 

 calcaneal process. Being w^holly free from stalagmite, and pos- 

 sessing its articular extremities uninjured, it enables us to make 

 many comparisons and measurements which were previously im- 

 practicable. This specimen was ticketed by M. Bojer — " Tarsus 

 of a bird, presumed to be a tarsus of the Dronte, discovered by 

 Col. Dawkins in the same cave as No. 1, in 1831." 



This bone, though apparently belonging to an adult indivi- 

 dual, is considerably smaller in its dimensions than any metatarsi 

 of the Solitaire which have been previously examined. In fact, 

 it is only half an inch longer than the same bone in the Oxford 

 specimen of the Dodo. But notwithstanding the smaller size, 

 it so precisely corresponds in form and proportions with the 

 figured examples of the Solitaire's metatarsus as to leave not the 

 slightest doubt that they all belong to one and the same species. 

 The difference of size is not greater than is often seen to arise 

 from diversity of sex, age, or development, in other species of 

 birds. The following are its precise measurements : — 



Right Metatarsus of Solitaire. 



Length from lower border of middle trochlea to summit of inter- in- Hn. 



condyloid tubercle 5 8 



Transverse diameter of the shaft 6 



Antero-posterior diameter of do. at the upper portion of articular 



surface for posterior metatarsal 4 



Transverse diameter of lower extremity 1 3| 



Distance from upper border of posterior metatarsal articular facet 



to internal intertrochlear notch 1 3 



Length from external trochlea to external condyloid fossa 5 1| 



,, from internal do. to internal do o 2| 



Breadth of upper extremity 1 2 



Antero-posterior diameter of do 1 1 



Projection of ento-calcaneal process 5J 



