AND AVES OP NORTH AMERICA. 



239 



galla it is smaller; in this species it is immense, though not quite equal in proportions to 

 that observed in ("rax alector. The hitter species presents, however, a, marked pneumatic 

 foramen on the proximal end of the tibia, just behind the external crest, which is repre- 

 sented by a very minute one in the 1 present genus. This does not weigh with such im- 

 portance as to remove the present genus from the same group, for it is equally minute or 

 wanting in Tallegalla lathami, as well as in (iallus and the true (Jalliuae. The distal ex- 

 tremity of the tibia is more like; the Mogapodiidae than the (iallus, as well as the proxi- 

 mal, in the lesser proportions of the tuberosity to which the fibula is attached. 



The osteology of the Peuelopine genera is not accessible to me at present, so that I 

 cannot compare the present one with Oreophasis, Penelope, etc., with which it no doubt 

 has affinity. 



MELEAGRI8 STTPERBUS, Cope. 



Established on a a early ■pejfeot right tibia, mid Imperfect left one, a led, femur with the condyles broken off, and a, 

 right coracoid bone, with tlio distal articular extremity imperfect. 



• The length of the tibii will best represent that of the entire bird. It is one-fourth greater than that of a 

 large adult male turkey, and it exceeds that of the same bone of the largest Crax alector in the Museum of the 

 Academy Natural Sciences, by the same amount. It is double the length of the tibia of most of the species of Crax. 

 Its proximal erests are strongly developed. On the articular surfaoe of the head the two anterior concavities are well 

 marked, and the posterior table overhangs the shaft as in Melagris gallopavo, and more than in Crax alector; it is 

 strongly separated from the external tuberosity by a ooncave notch; from Its posterior prominence a keel descends 

 along the shaft separating an external larger from an internal less concave faoe. The latter is hounded on the inner 

 side by a, less prominent ridge. These ridges exist in the turkey, but not in the Crax. The (ilmla.r ridge is not prom- 

 inent below, and is of normal length. The shaft is flattened, least so distally. The internal muscular ridge is well 



marked, hid, docs not run into a, keel on the distal half of the tibia as in Crax alector, but is as in the turkey and Tale- 

 galla. The distal tendinous groove is much as in the turkey, and with the transverse bridge, quite as in the turkey, 

 Curassow and Tallegalla. The upper edge of the bridge is thin and easily broken, but it is not so wide as in the single 

 turkey with which I compared it. The interoondyloid groove is open as in the turkey, more so than in Callus, and 

 with a shallow transverse groove for the articular ligament, which is very faintly traced in Crax and distinct in the, 

 turkey. The form of the condyles is more that of the common Fowl than of the turkey and Crax, i. «., the posterior 

 plane is narrow and elevated, not broad and ooncave. The external faces of the condyles are less concave than in 

 either type, and the inner contracted or incurved, as in the turkey; the outer is not as much flared as in both. The 

 anteroposterior diameter of the head of the tibia, enters the total length 5.2 times, being about the proportion ob- 

 served in the turkey. 



The femur, which was found with the tibia and coracoid, and which agree with them in color, mineral character, 

 relative stoutness, appearing in all respects to belong to the same bird, is, nevertheless, relatively shorter than in the 

 genera of G-allinae, with which I have above compared this species. While in Tallegalla, Crax and Callus, this ele- 

 ment is .(i(i the length of the tibia, it is here .(i, and in the M. gallopavo seven-elevenths the same. This dispropor- 

 tion is due to the tibia, which with the femur is more slender than in the genera, named. While it is but a small pro- 

 portion longer than the; same bone ill the turkey, its superior slenderness is in good proportion to the longer femur. 

 I n form if is much a„s in the genera, named. The superior and inferior muscular ridges are more strongly marked than 

 in Crax and Tallegalla, and the trochanteric ridge-like external margin is a, little, more compressed from above out- 

 wards and below inwards, than in the three genera compared. There are two grooves on the articular face of the 

 head, and a, short insertion-like ridge just above and in front of it, on the neck. 



The coracoid, apart, from the character of the great pneumatic foramen, is more like that of the turkey than the 



