390 University of California Publications. [Geology 



GYMNOGYPS AMPLUS, n. sp. 



Type specimen no. 9834, Univ. Calif. Col. Vert. Palae. Right 

 tarsometatarsus from Samwel Cave. Tarsometatarsus very 

 broad as compared with Gymnogyps calif ornianus (Shaw) ; foot 

 set inward on the shaft so that the median line of the shaft falls 

 outside the center of the foot. 



The establishment of this new form of condor is based on its 

 comparison with a single Recent specimen in addition to a series 

 of fourteen tarsometatarsi from the 

 Pleistocene of Rancho La Brea, in which 

 beds the bird occurs abundantly in a 

 phase considered to be identical with the 

 Recent species. 4 In this splendid series 

 there is no individual which approaches 

 in breadth of shank the dimensions dis- 

 played by the specimen here described. 

 It is to be expected that a bird of the 

 large size to which the condor grows 

 would vary to a considerable degree. 

 However, the extremes of variation ex- 

 hibited by the series referred to above 

 fail by a wide margin to include the cave 

 form within its limits. As mentioned 

 also in the previous discussion of that 

 series, the difference between Sarcorham- 

 phus and Gymnogyps as displayed hy 

 the tarsus is almost entirely one of rela- 

 tive width. Cathartes, Gymnogyps, Sar- 

 corhamphus, and Catharista form a grad- 

 uated series in this respect, passing from 

 broader to narrower tarsus. The species 

 here proposed displays a degree of flat- 

 tening equal to or in excess of that seen 

 in Cathartes. 



Unfortunately the proximal end of 

 the tarsometatarsus is not preserved, 



Fig. 2. Gymnogyps am- 

 pins, n. sp. Tarsometatar- 

 sus, no. 9834, Pleistocene 

 of Samwel Cave, Shasta 

 County, California. An- 

 terior face, approximately 

 natural size. 



* Miller, L. H., Univ. Calif. Publ. Bull. Dept. Geol., vol. 6, pp. 1-19, 1910. 



