Cu. II.) OF THE SOLITAIRE. 53 
read that “the bones procured [in Rodriguez] for Mr. Telfair were laid on the table. They 
include, with numerous bones of the extremities of one or more large species of Tortoise, 
several bones of the hinder extremity of a large bird, and the head of a humerus. With 
reference to the metatarsal bone of the bird, which was long and strong, Dr. Grant pointed 
out that it possessed articulating surfaces for four toes, three directed forwards, and one 
backwards, as in the foot of the Dodo preserved in the British Museum, to which it was 
also proportioned in its magnitude and form.” 
In our attempts, therefore, to reconstruct the skeleton of the Solitaire, and to determine its 
zoological affinities, our only data are the bones which the Curators of the Paris and Glasgow 
collections have enabled us to bring into juxta-position. The bones of the supposed Solitaire 
from the Paris Museum are five in number ;! viz., a femur, a tarso-metatarsal, a humerus, 
the medial portion of a sternum, and a portion of the cranium. Unfortunately they are all 
incrusted uniformly over with stalagmite, from 7's to v's of an inch in thickness, which pre- 
vents all examination of the surface of the bones, or any minute description of their structure. 
They nevertheless supply us with several important elements to guide us in reconstructing 
the skeleton of this lost bird. 
From the uniformity in the appearance and thickness of the incrustation, it appears 
evident that these bones have all been obtained in one locality, probably in some pool on the 
floor of a cavern, exposed to the dripping of water containing carbonate of lime. And from 
the fact that no duplicate bones occur amongst them, and from their apparent agreement in 
proportionate size, we have a right to assume that they are portions of the skeleton of the 
same individual. (See Plates XIII. and XIV.) 
The Glasgow series of bones are all portions of the hinder extremity, and consist of 
three femora, a tibia, and two tarso-metatarsal bones. Their appearance, as well as their 
history, proves them to have been obtained under different circumstances from those last 
mentioned. ‘They still contain nearly the whole of their animal matter, present a glossy 
surface, considerable specific gravity, and are neither changed in colour nor incrusted with 
extraneous matter. They have the appearance of having been obtained from a reddish soil 
on the floor of some dry cave, where they have been protected from the changes of weather 
and from the action of mineral waters. i 
The only bones which are common to the Paris and Glasgow series are the femur 
(Plate XIV.) and the tarso-metatarsal. (Plate XV.) On comparing these together, they 
present every indication of specific identity. The tarso-metatarsal at Paris is of the same form 
and dimensions (allowing for the thickness of the incrusting matter) as the pair at Glasgow. 
And the Parisian femur, though apparently much larger, owing to the thickness of its stalag- 
mitic coating, is yet reducible to the same dimensions as the largest of the three Andersonian 
femora. From this, and from the anatomical relations of the bones to each other, it appears 
certain that these two collections of bones belong to one and the same species of bird. And 
' There is a sixth bone in the collection, but it belongs, not to the Solitaire, but to a Tortoise. 
