Benepen.—On a New Fossil Bird, Anas finschi. 601 
species of the North, and what especially distinguishes it is the width ofthe 
sacrum and the height of the cotyloid cavities. The shoulder blade is also 
stronger, wider, and longer. 
We have two entire coracoids, and their resemblance to the coracoid of 
the Marila is so great that we had some difficulty at first to distinguish 
them. 
The humerus is larger and stronger than that of Anas clangula and Anas 
marila. 
The radius and ulna are alike in size as in diameter. The metacarpals 
are stronger as well as the following segments. Ifthe humerus is stronger 
than in the two living species, A. clangula and A. fuligula, more especially is 
a similar difference seen in the bones of the feet. 
The femur is almost double in length and thickness. We can say as 
much, at least, of the tibia and tarsus, and the joints of the fingers are alike 
incomparably stronger in the new species from New Zealand. 
The tarso-metatarsus bones show in addition differences we believe to be 
sexual We have also a dozen ribs, and if we find any differences it is that 
the central apophyses, instead of being recurved from the lower part up- 
wards, are on the contrary extended from the upper part downwards, unit- 
ing with the bone in the whole width. 
From all this we may conclude with Dr. Finsch, that the bones of the 
duck from the Earnscleugh caves belong to a new bird, which has pro- 
bably disappeared at the same time as the Dinornis, and to which we pro- 
pose to give the name of the learned naturalist of Bremen—<Anas finschi. 
In eomparing these bones with the two species known in Europe, we 
have been quite struck with their resemblance to the fossil species, which 
inhabited in great numbers the shores of lakes, the bottoms of which at 
the present day constitute a considerable portion of the department of 
Allier, and to which M. Alphonse Milne-Edwards has given the name of 
Anas blanchardi. 
The principal difference between these and Anas finschi is that the head 
is not so long in the New Zealand species; and if there is but a slight dif- 
ference in the size of the head, there is on the other hand a remarkable 
difference in the size of the bones of the limbs. The wings as well as the 
feet are stronger in the New Zealand species ; the clavicle is wider, but it 
is with difficulty one discovers differences between the sternums or plastron. 
That which is especially surprising in comparing these bones of a New 
Zealand form with the European species is, that one finds so faithfully 
reproduced all the characters peculiar to the birds of the family. 
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