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Show 404 MR. R. LYDEKKER ON SOME LARGE [May 20, caverns which had been collected by the late Admiral Spratt. These were subsequently figured in vol. vi. pi. xxx. of the ' Transactions'; but what has now become of them I am unable to state. Several of them are, however, almost or quite perfect, and therefore better suited to the exact determination cf the affinities of their owners than those I have now to describe. The greater number of these specimens were regarded as belonging to a species of Swan, for which the name Cygnus falconeri was proposed. This species was described as being about one third larger than C. musicus, from which it was distinguished by the relatively shorter femur, the shorter tarso-metatarsus, and the much shorter phalangeals. In recently examining tbe small series of bird-bones from the Maltese caverns presented to the British Museum by Admiral Spratt, all of which have hitherto been labelled Cygnus falconeri, I found that only a few of them, viz. two specimens of tbe imperfect distal extremity of the tarso-metatarsus and some phalangeals, really belonged to that form. These specimens agree with the types in being decidedly larger than the corresponding bones of C. musicus, and the phalangeals confirm the conclusion that the species is widely different from any existing form. Most of the other bones, however, are referable to a Vulture and a Crane, and these I now proceed to describe. GYPS MELITENSIS, n. sp. The bones of the Accipitres are so easily recognized and so widely different from those of other birds that there is no difficulty whatever in deciding whether given fossil specimens belong to members of this group. A considerable number of specimens in the series already mentioned indicate the existence in Malta during the Pleistocene period of a Vulture exceeding the existing Vultur monachus by about one fifth of its dimensions, and therefore the largest member of the Accipitres yet known, with the exception of the still more gigantic extinct New-Zealand bird described by the late Sir J. von Haast under the name of Harpagornis. For this species, which may be sufficiently diagnosed by its large dimensions, I propose the name of Gyps melitensis, my reasons for the generic reference being given below. It will be unnecessary on this occasion to give an account of the distinctive osteological features of the Accipitres, since those who are desirous of making themselves acquainted with this subject will find full details in Professor A. Milne-Edwards's ' Oiseaux Fossiles de la France' ; and I accordingly at once proceed to notice the various bones, commencing with the tibio-tarsus as one of the most characteristic parts of the skeleton. In m y drawings (see Plate X X X V . figs. 2, 2 a) there are given two views of the distal portion of the right tibio-tarsus, an anterior view of the corresponding part of the homologous bone of Vultur monachus being given in fig. 3. A comparison of the figures will at once show |