Mr. J. Orton on the Condors of the Equatorial Andes. 185 



[In the 27th cervical vertebra of Plesiosaurus ManseUi, 

 Mr. Hulke gives the measurements as : — 



From front to back of centrum 2| inches. 



Width of centrum 4 „ 



Depth of centrum 3^ ,, 



and in the pectoral region the distinctive proportions of widtli 

 and depth become slightly more marked. 



The more concave articular face of the centrum and less 

 thickened peripheral margin of the Kimmeridge species con- 

 firm the specific distinction of the types.] 



Pectoral vertebra. — The pectoral vertebra of P. winsj^itensis 

 appears to measure — 



From front to back of the centrum 1|^ inch. 



Width of centrum 2|^ inches. 



Depth of centrum 1|- 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 greater 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 icinspitensis. 



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

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



The condor has been singularly unfortunate in the hands 

 of the curious and scientific. 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 work 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 ojp moderate size, just killed, was 

 lying before him, a single quill-feather of which was twenty 



* From a separate impression communicated by the Author. 



