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Show 1890.] EXTINCT BTRDS FROM MALTA. 409 G. auslraliaca1. The transverse diameter of the fossil bone is 0,025, against 0,0255 in G. antigone. The imperfect distal extremity of a left tarso-metatarsus (represented in Plate X X X V I . figs. 2, 2 a, as being considerably larger than the corresponding hone of G. antigone, fig. 1) indicates a Crane larger than the individuals to which the preceding specimens belonged, although not necessarily specifically distinct. It exhibits the relative shortness and backward position of the trochlea for the second digit characteristic of the Cranes. Its greatest transverse diameter is 0,032, compared with 0,026 in G. antigone. Taking the coracoid and tibia alone into consideration these bones indicate the specific distinctness of the Maltese Crane from G. antigone, and therefore from the smaller G. communis; and its distinction from G. australiaca (the coracoid of which I have not had an opportunity of examining) may be regarded as pretty certain. Several species of fossil Cranes have been described. Of these the so-called G. primigenia, from the caverns of the Dordogne, agrees with G. antigone in the length of the bridge over the extensor groove of the tibia2, and I believe that both this form and the Italian G. turfa, Portis, are indistinguishable from G. antigone. The geological horizon of G. excelsa, from the Lower Miocene of Allier, in which the tibial bridge is short3, is alone sufficient to indicate that the present form is in all probability distinct from that species. With G. pentelici, of the Lower Pliocene of Greece, the present specimens do not admit of comparison. Under these circumstances I propose to regard the Maltese Crane as belonging to a new species, for which the name G. melitensis may be adopted. It m a y be defined as agreeing typically in size with G. antigone, but distinguished by the smaller and narrower head of the coracoid, and the shorter bridge over the extensor groove of the tibio-tarsus. If the above-mentioned tarso-metatarsus also belonged to it, some individuals of G. melitensis will have considerably exceeded the dimensions attained by G. antigone. CYGNUS FALCONERI. The specimens of this species to which I desire to draw attention are the phalangeals to which allusion has been already made, and one of which has been figured by Prof. Parker in the ' Trans. Zool. Soc' vol. vi. pi. xxx. figs. 20-23. Of these bones the Museum possesses ten examples. In their stoutness and shortness these bones are so utterly different from the phalangeals of existing Swans that it is at first sight difficult to believe that they belonged to a kindred bird. Closer examination shows, however, that the first phalangeals of the third digit (fig. 3, A , p. 410) agree in the form of their proximal articular surface with the corresponding bone of Color (fig. 3, B, p. 410); while the distal articulation of this bone has the peculiar obliquity and the prominent ridge formed on the posterior 1 See Milne-Edwards, ' Oiseaux Fossiles de la France,' pi. lxxiii. fig. 5. 2 See Milne-Edwards, op. cit. pi. Ixxvi. fig. 8. 3 Ibid. pi. lxxv. fig. 5. |