232 Shufeldt, Osteology of Cercopsis novcs-hollandicB. Fjsf'A'jril 



present at their usual sites, and the linea aspera is well marked down 

 the shaft. 



None of the bones of this Wmh is pneumatic, and this is the 

 case with all Geese which I have examined with the view of 

 ascertaining this point. 



As a rule, in the Anseres the patella does not ossify, though 

 occasionally in some species the cartilage of which it is formed 

 becomes very firm and dense — so much so that in dried skeletons 

 the track or groove of the ambiens muscle is plainly to be seen 

 crossing it obliquely. There does not seem to be an osseous 

 patella in the Goose here being described, nor in any of its con- 

 geners. 



Measuring from the highest point on the entocnemial process 

 of the tibio-tarsus to the lowest one on its internal condyle, this 

 bone has an extreme length of 163 millimetres. 



The shaft is straight, and for the most part more or less 

 cylindrical. To meet the requirements for articulation with the 

 femur the area of its summit is more than usually extensive — 

 that is to say, in order to provide the requisite room for the con- 

 cavities to accommodate the femoral condyles. Above this 

 summit rears the cnemial process, divided, as it is in nearly all 

 existing birds, into the ento- and ectocnemia.1 crests. The first 

 of these is the longer, and placed the higher on the shaft. It 

 projects directly to the front, while the somewhat smaller, broadly- 

 hooked one turns directly outward so that it is in a plane at right 

 angles to the first, and when the articular skeleton of the limb 

 is viewed directly from in front completely hides the head of the 

 fibula. 



On the outer side of the shaft of the tibio-tarsus, rather more 

 than a centimetre below its summit, there is the fibular ridge — 

 an individualized, low crest, 3 centimetres long, the entire length 

 of the free outer border of which articulates with the fibula. 



At the distal extremity the condyles are large and uniform in 

 outline. Anteriorly, they protrude considerably, and are rather 

 broad and rounded ; while, posteriorly, they are reduced to sharp, 

 low ridges, with a much shallower intercondylar space as com- 

 pared with the deep and broad one in front. Above the latter 

 there is the usual tendinal canal, which fades away on the anterior 

 aspect of the shaft at about the junction of lower and middle 

 thirds. Just above the condyles on this view we find the usual 

 osseous span across this tendinal groove, and on either hand the 

 usual tuberosities for the insertion of the tendons of certain muscles 

 of the thigh. 



This tibio-tarsus of Cereopsis is identical in character with that 

 bone as we find it in Branta canadensis (No. 17,980, Coll. U.S. 

 Nat. Mus.), even to the matter of length, it being in the Canada 

 Goose only 2 or 3 millimetres shorter. 



Practically, this also applies to the fibula, though in Branta the 

 tubercles and grooves on the outer aspect of its head are more 

 pronounced. In both birds, however, the fibula is much com- 



