Mr. W. K. Parker on the Osteology of Balseniceps rex. 449 



tebra? there are four canals — the one under consideration, one for 

 the spinal chord, and a pair for the vertebral arteries. In the Ba- 

 laeniceps the vertebra?, from the seventh to the thirteenth inclusive, 

 are thus constructed. The only Stork in which we have seen this 

 structure is the Australian Jabiru, Mycteria australis ; for a know- 

 ledge of which fact we are indebted to the kindness of Mr. Edward 

 Gerrard. These pairs of inferior processes meet together in but few 

 birds ; nevertheless this is the case in the White Pelican (Pelecanus 

 onocrotalus) and in the Gannet (Sula bassana). In the former bird 

 also there is no cup-and-ball articulation of the dorsal vertebrae, which 

 reptilian character occurs in the Gannets, Cormorants, and Penguins. 

 Notwithstanding their great size, the vertebra? of Balceniceps agree 

 better with those of the Heron than with those of the Stork ; but in 

 their shortness, better with those of the Boatbill than with those of 

 the longer-necked Heron : for the Heron, like the Giraffe, gains its 

 great length of neck by elongation of the individual vertebra? rather 

 than by an increase in their number. The ribs of the Balceniceps 

 are lighter, weaker, and more cellular than those of its congeners. 

 The oblong, narrow, neat pelvis of this bird is more like that of the 

 Boatbill than that of the Stork, or even of the Heron. It differs, 

 however, from that of either of these in not being expanded in a broad 

 foliaceous manner over the top of the posterior ribs. This part again 

 agrees with the pelvis of the Heron, inasmuch as the ischium passes 

 much further backwards than the posterior part of the ileum. In 

 Ciconia alba these two pelvic bones terminate in the same vertical 

 line, whilst in the Adjutant and Boatbill the ileum projects back- 

 wards and furthest. The pubic bones are unusually broad. There 

 are seventeen sacral vertebra?, the first of which has a pair of ribs. 

 The caudal vertebra? are six in number, the last being composed of 

 eight or ten embryonic vertebra?. 



The sternal apparatus of this bird is very interesting. In shape 

 the sternum is intermediate between that of the White Stork and 

 that of the Cormorant, the keel, as in the latter bird, projecting evenly 

 forwards anterior to the articulations with the coracoids, for a greater 

 distance than in the Stork and Heron. Moreover, the keel is not 

 quite so deep as it is in the congeners of this bird. It passes, how- 

 ever, to the end of the sternum, as in them ; whereas in the Pelicans, 

 Gannets, and Cormorants it scarcely continues beyond the middle of 

 that bone. The episternal process is obsolete in this bird ; it exists 

 in the Pelecanidce, Herons, and Boatbill, and is nearly obsolete in the 

 Storks. The hyposternal processes are unusually long and arcuate ; 

 and there is on each side of the end of the keel another rather smaller 

 emargination which is obsolete in the Storks, Herons, and Boatbill, 

 but is well shown in the Spoonbill and the probing waders, Nume- 

 niusy Himantopus, Limosa, &c. The tips of the furculum are sub- 

 triangular and rather flat ; the bone then becomes very thick and 

 trihedral, having at the top of the thick part a large oval facet, which 

 is adapted to the under part of the head of the coracoid. This thick 

 part is very short, for the bone suddenly lessens, bends backwards, 

 and passes on, rounded below and angular above, to thicken again at 



