35 
it varies from 4 inches 4 lines to 4 inches 6 lines in length, with a greatest proximal 
breadth of 8 lines. No adequate gain would result from a detailed description or com- 
parison of this bone ; and the rest of the bones of the foot have received every requisite 
attention in this way in the excellent work on the Dodo and its kindred, already 
quoted. A longitudinal section of the metatarsus, taken in the direction from side to 
side (PL XI. fig. 10), shows the loose cancellous texture of the common epiphysis of 
the three long metatarsals, and the remnant of their contiguous coalesced walls reduced 
to a thin lamella of bone. As the moiety of the bone figured is the posterior one (of 
the left metatarsus), the usual oblique position of the middle metatarsal (m), with its 
proximal end nearer the back part and its distal end nearer the fore part of the coalesced 
series, produces a corresponding direction of the section, with narrowing and termination 
of the exposed part of the medullary canal about one-third from the distal end of that 
metatarsal. The medullary canal of the outer metatarsal {iv) is wider and descends 
lower before the breaking up of the inner surface into decussating lamelte or filaments, 
than that of the inner metatarsal (^^) : the peripheral compact wall of the inner is twice 
the thickness of that of the outer metatarsal. I may remark that the more posterior 
position of the middle metatarsal at its proximal end, from which and the corresponding 
part of the common epiphysis the calcaneal process is developed, is related to the greater 
share taken by the middle toe in the act of walking and scratching. I will only remark 
that of the four metatarsals of as many Dodos in the present series, one exceeds by a 
line the length of that figured in plate xi. op. cit., and one falls short thereof to the 
same trifling amount. 
Skull. (Plates III. & XI. fig. I.) 
Of the skull of the Dodo, the series of bones transmitted to me include the cranial 
part with the detached upper mandibular bone (more or less mutilated) of two mature 
birds, and the lower mandible of three individuals. In the latter the dentary elements 
(PL XI. fig. I, 32), confluent at the “ gonys,” are distinct from the hinder halves of 
the rami formed by the confluent, or perhaps connate, articular, surangular and an- 
gular elements (ib. 3i) : if the “ splenial ” were ever distinct, it has coalesced with the 
dentary, where its upper boundary is indicated by a linear groove or series of small 
foramina. 
In size, shape, and all other characters of these important evidences of the specific 
nature of the remains from the Mahebourg morass S they agree with those of Bidus 
ineptus detailed in the ‘Proceedings of the Zoological Society’ for January Ilth, 1848 
(partxvi. pp. 2-8), and in the work entitled “ The Dodo and its Kindred,” pp. 76-96. 
The occipital condyle (ib. i) presents the same hemispheroid or reniform shape, with 
the median vertical notch or depression above. The upper margin of the foramen mag- 
num is broad, as it were excised, with the sides slightly prominent. The superoccipital 
’ “ La Mare aux Soages.” 
F 2 
