Present distribution of the so called Reitiliie. 169 



not been able to prove the truth of this as both birds had been 

 imported I)y dealers and neither these old birds nor their offspring- 

 were properly examined. The 6 standing" mounted in the British 

 Museum is certainly liltea nandù and not RJiea americana or as 

 it is labelled Bliea nìacrorìiyncha. Finally Mr. Py craft in our 

 monogTaph on the Cassowaries described the skeleton of an 

 Ostrich to wliich he gave the name meridional is. I have purposely 

 left the discussion of this bird out of the main part of my lecture 

 as we have been unable to obtain a skeleton for comparison of 

 Oscar Neumann's Struthio viassaicvs. If eventually the two 

 should prove distinct a 5^'' Ostrich must be recognised as Struthio 

 nieridionalis Pycraft; for nieridionalis Sci. is a nomen nudum. It 

 remains for me to urge all travellers to do their utmost to send 

 home to Europe skins and living specimens of the Arabian and 

 Syrian Ostrich which is bound to be of great interest, for it is 

 either a quite new and undescribed form or Struthio camelus 

 which would be equally interesting to determine. 



Note on some Fragments of the Fossil Egg-shell of 



a large Struthious Bird from Southern Algeria, with 



some Remarks on some Pieces of the Egg-shell of an 



Ostrich from Northern India. 



By C. W. Andrews, D. Sc, F. R. S. (British Museum, Natural 



History), London. 



During a recent visit to Southern Algeria the Hon. Walter 

 Rothschild collected two fragments of egg-shell indicating the 

 former existence in that region of a Struthious bird considerably 

 larger than the recent Ostrich. These specimens which have been 

 handed to me for determination and description, were found in the 

 desert about twenty miles east of Touggourt, S. Algeria. Near 

 the spot where the}?- were picked up was an excavation for a well 

 and it might be suggested that possibly they may have been 

 brought up from this from a considerable depth. The condition 

 of mineralisation in wdiich these fragments are, rather favours 

 this suggestion, but, on the other hand, it is certain that, either 

 recently or at some former time they have been subjected to the 

 action of drifting sand, their edges being rounded and their 

 surface showing the peculiar pitting and polish characteristic of 

 calcareous substances worn by this means. Comparatively soft 

 substances such as pieces of egg-shell would be rapidly abraded^) 



^) I have known pieces of a substance so hard as bottle-glass after 

 exposure of only a few months in the desert have its surface abraded so 

 that it presented the appearance of ground glass, 



