30 R. W. SHUFELDT, 
Mergus serrator, the same being compared with Lophodytes cucullatus 
and other species. In that work there is also given a full descrip- 
tion of the skeleton of Spatuala elypeata, which is likewise compared 
with the skeletons of a number of anserine species. In these de- 
scriptions, an imperfeet skeleton of Dendrocygna autumnalis was duly 
included, and very full ones of Olor columbianus, Branta, Chen, Anser, 
and other genera and species. Some of all this data will be used 
in the present connection, especially as it is needed to make more 
thorough osteologieal comparisons in the case of Dendrocygna bicolor 
and D. autumnalis, complete skeletons of which have not previously 
been at hand for the purpose, — at least not in so far as some of 
the most important parts of them are concerned. 
On p. 284 of my “Osteology of Birds” it was stated that I had 
“examined the vertebrae and ribs in the genera Anas, Spatula, 
Dafila, Aix, Netta, Marila, Clangula, Oharitonetta, Harelda, Polysticta, 
Somateria, Oidemia, and others, and am satisfied that they vary to 
such an extent that the data obtained therefrom can not be used 
with quite as much effeet in the matter of taxonomy in this group, 
as can other parts of the skeleton.” The truth of this statement 
will be further tested in the present contribution, and I am inclined 
to think that a more extended study of the trunk skeleton, in the 
above and other species and genera, will throw not a little light 
on the systematic position of Dendrocygna, with respect to the 
relationships of the members of that genus to other anserine groups. 
It will by no means be necessary for me to reproduce here all 
the facts brought out and recorded, with respect to the osteology 
of so many of the Anseres, as are to be found in my “Östeology 
of Birds”; but rather to keep it in mind, as additional information 
is here presented, which is made possible through a study of the 
skeletons of other species which were formerly not available. Chief 
among these are more or less complete skeletons, or parts of 
skeletons, of Cereopsis novae-hollandiae, Erismatura jamaicensis, Hymeno- 
laemus malacorhynchus, Chenonetta jubata, Aix galerieulata, Olor buccina- 
tor, Mareca, Histrionicus histrionicus, with a little additional material 
illustrating the osteology of certain geese. 
It is unfortunate that there is no skeleton of the Emperor Goose 
(Philacte canagica) in the collections of the U. S. National Museum; 
especially in view of the fact that large series of skins of that 
species have been brought there by a number of our Arctic ex- 
