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Ill. On the Extinct Birds of Patagonia.—l. The Skull and Skeleton of Phovorhacos 
inflatus Ameghino. By C. W. Annrews, B.Sc., F.Z.S., Assistant in the British 
Museum (Natural History). 
Received March 21, read April 18, 1899. 
[Prares XIV.—XVII.] 
Ina paper read at the Meeting of the British Association at Ipswich, in 1895, and 
subsequently published in the ‘ Ibis’ 1, the present writer gave a brief review of a very 
interesting memoir by Dr. Florentino Ameghino on some remarkable fossil birds from 
the Tertiary deposits of Patagonia. Since that time, the specimens described by 
Ameghino have come to the Geological Department of the Natural History Museum, 
so that an opportunity of examining the bones themselves has arisen; and in the case 
of the most remarkable of the specimens, the skull and skeleton of Phororhacos 
inflatus, the careful removal of the adherent matrix has revealed for the first time 
many points of great importance, ¢.g. the structure of the palate. It seems, therefore, 
desirable to give as complete an account as possible of the osteological characters 
of this bird, in order, if possible, to arrive at some conclusion as to its precise 
relationship to recent forms; and although the account given in Ameghino’s excellent 
paper is an accurate one as far as it goes, still it seems best, even at the risk of some 
repetition, to describe in detail all the parts of the skeleton available, in order to 
facilitate the comparison of them with recent types. 
1t may be at once stated that if the remains described by Ameghino really formed 
parts of one individual skeleton (and there seems to be no reason to doubt this), then 
this bird presents a most extraordinary combination of characters, to which no close 
parallel can be found among recent forms. A brief summary of the various opinions 
that have been expressed relative to the systematic position of the Stereornithes will 
be found in the above-mentioned review. 
The present paper will be confined to a description and comparison of the skeleton 
of Phororhacos inflatus Ameg., that species being represented by much the best 
series of remains. 
SKULL AND SKELETON OF PHORORHACOS INFLATUS AMEGHINO. 
Of this species there is a fine series of bones, including the skull and mandible, 
scapula, coracoid, bones of wing, pelvis, and bones of hind limb, as well as some 
vertebrae: these are said to belong to a single individual, ‘There is also a number of 
1 « Remarks on the Stereornithes, a Group of Extinct Birds from Patagonia,” Ibis, 1596, p. 1. 
VoL. xv.—Part ul. No. 1.—October, 1899, K 
