SIWALIK BIRDS. 
9—143 
specimen may be taken to indicate in all probability the occurrence in the Siwaliks 
of a bird closely allied to, if not identical with, Mergus. 
Genus, non. det. 
Phalangeal of the foot.— ha. plate XIV., fig. 13, there is represented a bone 
obtained by Mr. Theobald from the Siwaliks of the Punjab, which is apparently the 
first phalangeal of the median (third) digit of the foot of some stout-limbed 
swimming or walking bird ; the proximal extremity is somewhat worn, and the 
whole of the external surface is partially decayed. The specimen is very similar to 
the corresponding bone of the Australian Cereopsis, but it is insufficient to determine 
even the order to which its owner belonged. 
Sub-Class II.: RATIT^. 
Family : STB UTEIONIDJE. 
Genus : STRUTHIO, Linn. 
Number of species. — At the present day the genus is -represented by the well- 
known S. camelus.^ An ostrich has indeed been recently described from Somali Land 
under the name of S. mohjhdophanes, Reichenow,^ but there is considerable doubt as 
to its claim to sjiecific distinctioiP ; and, in any case, it is distinguished at present^ 
merely by external characters, so that for palmontological purposes it may be grouped 
with S. camelus. The species described below is the only fossil representative. 
Species: Struthio asiaticus, A. M. Edwards. 
Syn. S. palceindicus, Falc., MSS.; Megaloscelornis sivalensis^ nobis (in parte). 
Tlistorg, — Apparently the first mention of a Siwalik ostrich is in a letter from 
Falconer to De. Blainville, dated October 4th, 1847, in which certain remains were 
alluded to under the name of S. palceindicus.'^ In 1871 (or a little earlier) M. A. 
Milne-Edwards^ 2 ^ 1 ’oposed the name of S. asiaticus for the Siwalik sjiecies ; and in 
1880 Mr. Davies'® described the remains on the evidence of which this name had been 
assigned, giving a figure of the most imjiortant specimen. It was mentioned at the 
same time that other remains had been figured in unpublished plate R. of the 
“ F.A.S.,” but had received no name. In the previous year the present writeF 
briefly described two bones from the Siwaliks (which had been found in juxtaposition 
and were labelled by Falconer as remarkable specimens) and referred them both to a 
bird, to which he applied the new generic and specific name of Megaloscelornis sivalensis. 
One of these bones, which was regarded as the sternum of this new bird, turns out 
to be a portion of the carapace and plastron of an emydine chelonian, which presents 
a most extraordinary resemblance to an avian sternum.® The other bone is a portion 
1 S. ausiralis, Gurney, seems to be merely a variety. 
2 ‘ Sonntags-Beiloge zur Norddeutschen Allgemeinen Zeitung,’ September, 1883. 
3 Vide ‘ Ibis,’ 1884, pp. 116, 352. 4 Vide “ Pal. Mem.,” vol. I., p. xxi. (1868). 
5 Op. cit., vol. II., p. 587. 6 Op. cit., p. 19. 7 ‘Records,’ vol. XII., p. 55. 
8 The writer is indebted to Prof. A. Newton, of Cambridge, for this correction. 
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