400 DU. R. W. SHUFELDT ON 



showing the conditions described as they occur in a very old 

 bird (iigs. 3 & 4), and they axe equally well shown in the patella 

 of P. punctatus (figs. 5 & 6), where the foraminal passage has 

 likewise entirely disappeared. The rotular channel in front is 

 very narrow and pointed above, as in a Grebe or Loon, and there 

 is a rounded notch on the superior border of the cnemial process 

 of the tibio-tarsus, which marks the limitation, externally, of the 

 facet for articulation with the patella on that border (fig. 6, 

 where this " notch " is plainly seen). This patella gives barely 

 any hint as to the two parts of which it is composed. 



This is to a less degree true of the patella of Phalacrocorax 

 Qiiagellanicus (figs. 7 & 8) ; for here again we find the foraminal 

 passage in its very last stages of ultimate absorption, while the 

 continuation of the rotular channel on the anterior face of the 

 patella, and the evidence of this part of the patella once having 

 belonged to the tibio-tarsus, is very complete (fig. 7, which 

 should be compared with fig. 6, the former in no way recalling 

 the form of these bones in the Grebe). 



Phalaa-Gcorax im-ile (Nos. 19655 k 18982) has, in old individuals, 

 a rather bulky patella (figs. 9, 10, & 11), in which, in the 

 specimens selected, the foraminal passage is reduced to caj)i]lary 

 proportions, and the sutui'al traces of the elements composing 

 it have become nearly obliterated. Fig. 10, which is from the 

 right limb of P. urile, No. 18982 of the Collection of the U.S. 

 National Museum, shows the minute entrance to the foraminal 

 passage; while in fig. 11, it being the left limb from the same 

 skeleton, the opposite opening is in view, — posterior to two 

 other foramina which occur here. Fig. 1 1 is given on the plate, 

 to the exclusion of the patella of Phalacrocorax ca9-bo, for the 

 reason that in no Cormorant, other than P. urile, do we find, 

 on this anterior view, a better example of the intercnemial 

 channel on both the big sesamoid and the tibio-tarsus, and the 

 line between them where they eventually parted company. 



Phalacrocorax carlo (No. 18850, Coll. U.S. Nat. Mus., not 

 figured) has a patella that is an interesting one in several 

 particulars. On its inner aspect the surface is flat and smooth, 

 the minute opening of the almost entirely absorbed foraminal 

 canal being situated far posteriorly upon it. In size and general 

 form the patella of this Cormorant is much like the one shown 

 in figs. 18 & 19 of P. pelagicus ; while it likewise possesses 

 characters peculiarly its own. It has the usual trihedral form, 

 and makes rather moi'e than the average articulation with 

 the tibio-tarsus in extent, especially on the proximal margin of 

 the procnemial process. Its posterior face is triangular and flat, 

 while the external one is pierced near its middle by the outer 

 opening of the foraminal passage. Anteriorly, the usual inter- 

 cnemial channel is present, it being continuous with the same on 

 the tibio-tarsus. On the patella it is unusually narrow, and 

 faces very much to the outer side. 



Phalacrocorax carlo (No. 18851) has the patella almost 

 exactly like that in P. urile (figs. 10 & 11.) The former, 



