370 ON A FOSSIL BIRD FROM ITALY. [Mar. 16, 
the proximal phalanges remain. The only trace of the tarso- 
metatarsus and hallux, which is preserved in the counterpart, 
takes the form of a very shallow depression in the matrix, 
showing that an overlying flake of stone and the bone imbedded 
therein have been lost. 
There is a cluster of fragments of other bones in this slab, and 
these appear, at first sight, to be portions of thoracic vertebree— 
crushed centra and neural spines. A closer examination shows that 
these “spmes” are too high to belong to the vertebral column 
of any Passerine bird of this size. 
And now a word as to the traces of feathers which are to be found 
on the slab and counterpart containing the bones just described. 
These impressions occur in the form of a large patch occupying 
the middle of the area shut in by the femur and the shank of 
the left leg. On the slab a portion of this patch has been lost, 
but in the counterpart it is complete, and indicates a mass of 
feathers, probably of the flanks, matted together as if by wet. 
They show, moreover, that these remains must have been exposed 
to the action of tides, where low water would leave the feathers 
in a matted “draggled” condition. Before finally covered by 
the next high tide they must have become effectually covered 
by mud ; antl this because feathers under water would float out, 
much as in life. 
Along the lower end of the “shank” of each leg there are 
also impressions of feathers, which cease at the mesotarsal 
articulation. 
SUMMARY. 
There seems little room for doubt but that the remains just 
described are those of a Pipit (Anthus); at any rate, they agree 
more closely with bones of this genus than with those of any 
other group of Passerine birds with which I have compared 
them. And among the members of this genus these remains 
resemble most nearly those of the living species known as 
Berthelot’s Pipit (Anthus bertheloti). 
In the shape of the condyles of the distal end of the femur, 
and of the trochlez of the distal extremity of the tarso-metatarsus, 
shght differences are discernible when the fossil remains and 
the skeletons used for the purposes of comparison in this paper 
are compared. But these differences are very slight, and they 
may be due to pressure. 
Assuming that I am correct in ascribing these remains to an 
extinct species of the genus dnthus, 1 propose to adopt the name 
of the discoverer—Dr. Bosniaski—as the specific name. <Anthus 
bosniaski was obtained by Dr. Bosniaski from the Lower Pliocene 
of Gabbro near Leghorn, a deposit which has yielded many fossils 
and which is particularly rich in fish-remains. 
So far as I can make out, the only other remains of Passerine 
birds from the Lower Phocene are a few fragments representing 
the genera Corvus and Turdus from Rousillon, Perpignan. 
