Genus — ^ANAS. 
Anas Linne, Syst. Nat., lOth ed., p. 122, 1758 , . Type A. platyrJiynchos. 
Anassus Rafinesque, Analyse de la Nature, p. 72, 
1815 (c/. AuJc, 26, p. 52). Substitute name for 
Anas L. . . . . . . . . . . . . Type A. 'platyrhynchos. 
Boschas Swainson, Fauna Boreal-Amer. Birds, 
p. 442, 1832 . . . . . . . . . . Type A. 'platyrhynchos. 
Medium-sized Anatine birds with long bills, medium necks, long wings, short 
legs and long toes, the hind toe narrowly lobed. 
The bill is longer than the head, depressed, somewhat concave above, 
anterior to the nostrils, which are oval apertures placed near the base of the 
culmen ; the depth of the bill at the base is about equal to its width, and 
is less than half its length ; culmen ridge not differentiated and scarcely 
indicated ; nail not well distinguished, broad and flattened, tip scarcely over- 
hanging and not pointed ; lameUee on the edges of the upper mandible 
regularly comb-like, projecting a little. Under mandible narrow ; mandibular 
rami parallel, enclosing a narrow unfeathered tract, nail fusing with rami ; 
lameUse on the edges appearing as a weU-deflned comb. 
The wings are long with the second primary longest, first subequal 
with third. 
The tail is short, about one-third the length of the wing, the feathers 
rather pointed. 
The metatarsus is short, less than half the length of the tail and has a 
row of scutes on the anterior face, otherwise coarsely reticulate. The toes 
are long and fully webbed, the middle toe longer than the metatarsus but 
shorter than the culmen. The hind toe is small. 
