BY C. W. DE VIS. 
1285 
furnished with a more robust foot. On the anconal side of the 
bone there is no noteworthy difference between it and its like in 
G. tenelrosa. On the palmar side the calcaneal process is half as 
long again and considerably higher ; from its point of subsidence 
it is continued downwards as an angular ridge nearly to the middle 
of the shaft ; the lateral ridges are similarly disposed, but more 
pronounced ; the orifice of the interosseous canal much larger and 
more external ; the foramen on the outer side of the calcaneal 
ridge is also relatively larger. The evidence given may perhaps 
be held to show that the bird represented by this bone was a 
moorhen, and one of larger size than the living species. 
Fulica prior, n.sp. 
(PL XXXV. figs. 9a, 9b.) 
Proximal and distal moieties of possihUj the same humerus . — 
Omitting for brevity’s sake a review of the points indicating that 
tliis is the humerus of one of the Rallidie, we may turn at once 
to that family and attempt to ascertain the generic position of 
the fossil, taking only the three genera, Porphijrio, Gallinuia, 
and Fulica as needful for comparative jairposes. Porphyrio is 
distinguished from the others by the greater protrusion of tlie 
articular head, by the convexity of the edge of the sub-tuberous 
ridge, and by the smoothness of its low pectoral ridge. In none 
of these characteristics does it agree with the fossil. The 
pfctoral ridge is longer in Fulica than in Galliniila ; its posterior 
edge concave ; its anterior end elevated and thickened, forming 
a distinct tubercle (pectoral crest) ; the radial tuberosity more 
prominent, the scapular groove wider : in these features the fossil 
shows .so much nearer an approach to Fulica than to Gallinula, 
that it may without much reason for hesitation be relegated to 
that genus. Smaller in all its dimensions than the humerus 
of F. australis, its head is relatively nairower, with an 
articular sui'face (sub-conical in F'. australis) moi-e regularly 
convex ; the tubercle of the [tectoral cn'st feel)lei-, as also the 
radial tuberosity ; the sub-tuberous fo.s.sa sh^dlower ; the shaft 
more sharply trihedral anteriorly, more cylindrical posteriorly, 
and expanding more suddenly at the distal end ; the (‘iidocondylar 
