Page:Rothschild Extinct Birds.djvu/263

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229



AEPYORNIS MULLERIM.-E. & GRAND.

Aepyornis mulleri Milne-Edwards & Grandidier, C.R. CXVII, pp. 124-125 (1894).

The original description commences: "The new species which we owe to the researches of M. G. Muller, and which we shall name Ae. mulleri, is smaller. Nevertheless, it is superior in size to Ae. hildebrandti, described by M. Burckhardt, which also came from Antsirabé. We possess the almost complete skeleton of this bird, the skull, mandible, vertebrae, ribs, sternum, a part of the pelvis, the leg bones, and a few phalanges of the pes; so that we can now exactly define the position and affinities of the genus Aepyornis." Then follows the diagnosis of the family, which I have given before.

Habitat: Central Madagascar.



AEPYORNIS MODESTUSM.-E. & GRAND.

Aepyornis modestus Milne-Edwards & Grandidier, Ann. Sci. Nat. (5) XII, p. 189 (1869).

Messrs. Milne-Edwards & Grandidier state at pages 180-181 that the bone (a portion of a femur) which is the type of the above name, had a shaft-circumference of 120 mm., while in Ae. medius this circumference was 215 mm., and in Ae. grandidieri (= maximus auct. nec. Geoffroy), it was 270 mm.

Type locality: Amboulitsate, in West Madagascar.