William Davies—Fossil Bird-remains of India. 23 
characters, which cannot be referred to sexual or individual varia- 
tion of either of the above-named birds. A glance at the representa- 
tions of the fossil (Pl. II. Fig. 2 a, b, c) and corresponding phalanx 
(Pl. Il. Fig. 3 a, 6) of the Cassowary (5855, Brit. Mus. Coll.) shows 
the essential points of difference. The fossil is much stouter in pro- 
portion, the length being nearly the same in each, nor does it taper 
so rapidly for ward ; the proximal end is vertically deeper and more 
regularly triangular in outline, the inferior marginal border is convex, 
whilst in the Cassowary it is slightly concave; the lower half of the 
articular surface is also broadly convex, with shallow condylar depres- 
sions on either side, but exhibits no trace of an intercondylar ridge,! 
whereas in the Cassowary a narrow vertical median ridge is well de- 
fined between two broad and comparatively deep depressions which 
receive the distal condyles of the first phalange. In the fossil the 
anterior or anconal surface of the phalange rises rather abruptly near 
the proximal end, the middle portion of the bone being slightly 
depressed ; the anconal surface of the phalange of the Cassowary 
forms a nearly straight line. The distal articular groove is deeper 
and relatively broader, the condyles rising higher and being less 
rounded ; the pre-condylar depression is also deeper and broader in 
the fossil than in the recent bone. 
These differences impart to the fossil a distinctive osteological 
character, and a special paleontological interest, inasmuch that it is 
evidence—so far as a digital bone of the pes can be accepted as 
evidence—of a third species of Struthioid bird, genus undetermined, 
having been contemporaneous with the Ostrich and Emeu in the 
ancient plains of India. 
The following measurements will show the relative proportions of 
the fossil and recent bone :— 
Fossil. Cassowary. 
Length of phalanx... te; ear oes Pavel GS hat asleoo 
Transverse diameter, proximal end aly nee pron Ooh cs ORGS 
Vertical diameter ... ae as ee Aso, WES) 0°68 
Transverse diameter, distal ‘end ure ood ee Hae 0280 0-74 
Vertical diameter, between condyles Rae Hiv 0748 0°36 
Smallest circumference Ob sWatt: cs. ae axe wee) 2 k38 1°37 
Argala Fulconeri, A. M.-Edw. 
Professor Alphonse Milne-Edwards has described some frag- 
mentary remains of a gigantic Crane preserved in the Cautley 
Collection in the British Museum, under the above designation.’ 
They comprise two distal extremities of tibio-tarsi, and a proximal 
and distal end of the tarso-metatarsus. The descriptions, with 
measurements of each, are brief, and unaccompanied by figures. 
They are, however, represented by several views of each bone of 
the size of nature upon the unpublished plate R. (figs, 3, 5, 9 and 11) 
of the “Fauna Antiqua Sivalensis.” 
There are, besides the above, two other fragments in the same 
1 The figure on the unpublished plate is not a faithful representation of the 
proximal ar rticular surface. 
* Op. cit. tom. li. p. 449. 
