.Mr. .1. ( h-frm on fJic Condors of the Equatoritil Amirs. 185 



[III the 27tli c('V\ it-al vcrtolini of J'hsiosaurus Mansdii^ 

 Mr. Illlike gives the measurenu'iit.s a.>< : — 



From front to back of centruni UJ inches. 



Width of centrum 4 ,, 



Depth of centrum 3^ ,, 



and in the pectoral rofjion the tli.'^tinctivc proportions of width 

 and (h'ptli Lccoine .sliichtly more marked. 



The more concave articular face of the centrum and less 

 thickened perij)iieral marij,in of tiie Kimmeritlge t^pecies con- 

 firm the specific distinction of the types.] 



Pectoral vertebra. — The pectoral vertebra of P. winspitensis 

 appears to measure — 



From front to back of Ihe centrum Ij^ inch. 



"Width of centrum ... tl^ inches. 



Depth of centrum ll inch. 



Thus the form of the articular surface of the centrum is 

 broader from side to side than in the neck ; it is also a little 

 flatter. The neural spine is partly broken away ; but, unless 

 it be in a slightly o;reater development of the vertically elon- 

 gated tubercle for the rib, there is nothing specially remark- 

 able in the neural arch. 



The specimens are still partly imbedded in the matrix, and 

 the mass shows the impressions of portions of other vertebrae 

 of the same individual. As a means of drawing attention to 

 a locality which is likely to reward an explorer, I would 

 record the species as Plesiosaurus ivinsjntensis. 



XXI. — On the Condors and Humming-hirds of the Equatorial 

 Andes. By James Oiiton, of Poughkeepsie, N. Y.* 



The condor has been singularly unfortunate in the hands 

 of the curious and seientific. Fifty years have elapsed since 

 the first specimen reached Europe ; yet to-day the exaggerated 

 stories of its size and strength are repeated in many of our 

 text-books, and the very latest ornithological Avork leaves us in 

 doubt as to its relation to the other vultures. No one credits 

 the assertion of the old geographer Marco Polo, that the 

 condor can lift an elephant from the ground high enough to 

 kill it by the fall, nor the story of a traveller, so late as 1830, 

 who declared that a condor of moderate size, just killed, was 

 lying before him, a single quill-feather of which w^as twenty 



* From a sseparatp impression communicated by the Author. 



