328 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



3 short siiibcylindrical shaft, with massive extremities.. The tro- 

 chanter major is, transversely, very broad, but its crest does not 

 rise above the extensive articular surface on the summit of the 

 bone. This, to some very slight extent, however, is done by the 

 sessile, hemispherical head, which presents superiorly a shallow 

 excavation for the insertion of the round ligament. Muscular lines 

 upon the shaft are not especially well marked, and the bone, as is 

 the case with the skeleton of the entire pelvic limb in the goose, is 

 nonpneumatic, as are also those of Chen, Anser and Dendrocygna. 

 Distally, the condylar end of the femur of Branta canaden- 

 sis, is even larger than its proximal extremity. The external 

 condyle is more massive and at the same time lower upon the shaft 

 than the internal, while the ' whole has a decided obliquity in- 

 ward. A very wide intercondylar valley is seen both in front, 

 and to a lesser extent below; while posteriorly it is contracted. 

 Upon this latter aspect a well excaA^ated popliteal fossa is to be 

 observed. On their hinder aspects, the external condyle shows 

 the usual fibular cleft ; and the internal one is considerably flat- 

 tened. Both are rounded and a little prominent in front. The 

 usual minor excavations and tubercles for muscular and ligamentous 

 attachments are present at their most common sites as seen in other 

 members of the Class. With almost identically the same characters, 

 the femur in Anser albifrons has a length of 7.3 centimeters ; 

 and in Chen h . nivalis of 7.9 centimeters, the bone in the 

 latter being more like the femur of B. canadensis than is the 

 bone in A . albifrons, where the intercondyloid valley is pro- 

 portionately deeper and narrower, and the lines and borders else- 

 where rather sharper, including the more prominent anterior tro- 

 chanteric crest. Dendrocygna a u t u m n a 1 i s has a femur 

 with a length of about 5.3 centimeters, it having, only upon a smaller 

 scale, characters common to many of the ducks, or the Anseres 

 generally. 



If any of these geese or tree ducks have patellae, the fact is not 

 known to me, for they either do not possess them, or else they have 

 been lost in all the specimens at hand. I am very strongly in- 

 clined to believe that these sesamoids do not ossify in geese, and 

 probably not in Dendrocygna. The tibiotarsus of Branta 

 canadensis has a total length of about 7.3 centimeters. Its 

 shaft is straight, subcylindrical, and somewhat compressed in the 

 anteroposterior direction. Standing out somewhat boldly, the 

 cnemial processes hardly come down upon the shaft at all, while 



