r200 A riLIMP.SE OF THE POST-TERTIARY AVIFAUNA OF QUEENSLAND, 
Dromaius patricius, n.sp. 
(PI. xxxvi. figs. 13a, 13b, 13c.) 
Proximal end of right tibia. — The modifications which have 
taken place iu this part of the skeleton during the evolution from 
this species of the present emu, D. novce-hollandice, are not incon- 
siderable, as will be seen from the following memoranda of the 
di.screpancies between them. In tlie fossil the interosseous I’idge 
for the attachment of the fibula commences much higher on the 
sliaft, and the surface of the shaft between the ridge and the 
outer condyle is much more convex, the transverse thickness of 
the bone at this point thereby becoming greater. In front of the 
outer end of the outer condyle, the surface forming in the recent 
emu a circular basin with small ]>its on its inner margin for 
insertion of ligament, shows in the fossil a slight and irregular 
depression, chiefly occujiied by a large ligamentous pit situated 
much nearer the outer edge of the bone. The ectocnemial ridge, 
thick and obtusely edged in D. novoi-hollandice., is in the extinct 
species compressed, and descends with a sharp edge far below the 
level of the fiVmlar ridge, prolonging the channel between it and 
the procnemial ridge. Without allowing for loss by abrasion of 
the edges of the bone, the transverse measurement of the condylar 
surface is much the greater in the fossil. On the inner side the 
))rocnemial ridge is also seen to de.scend lower upon the shaft, 
cfuising an inci*ease of surface for muscular attachment between 
its edge and that of the articular surface. In most of its 
remaining features the fossil departs but little from the bone of 
the recent species ; it represents a bird of probably the same 
average size, but with at least one difference — a .stouter and more 
muscular leg. 
Difital end of right tibia. — The comparative shortness of the 
leg in the extinct species is again exemplified in this fossil. 
Oonsiderably lai’ger iu all its dimensions than a i-ecent bone of 
average size, its thickness anteroposteriorly at the end of the 
shaft is to the greatest breadth of its I’otular surface as 2 to 2^, 
whereas measurements at the same points of the recent bone give 
a ratio of 2 to 2|. The rotular surface is also relatively longer fore 
and aft to a conspicuous extent, and less concave transversely, 
