Zoological Society. 223 



also during a voyage thence to England, in a specimen brought home 

 by the Rev. Mr. Hennah of H. M. S. Isis, which was presented to 

 the Society after its death by Mr. Read. This letter is given at 

 length in the ' Proceedings'. 



Mr. Martin's Notes of the dissection of the specimen of Hyrax 

 Capensis, presented to the Society by Mr. Rudston Read, were then 

 read, and have also been printed in the ' Proceedings'. 



" The dissection of the Hyrax by Mr. Owen (' Proceedings of the 

 Committee of Science, &c.', Part II. p. 202.) is to be regarded as a 

 confirmation of the anatomical details of this animal as given by 

 Pallas, while at the same time it communicates several additional 

 facts of grea tvalue. The present notes," Mr. Martin observes, 

 " give nothing absolutely new ; but may be of use as substantiating 

 previous observations with regard to some very remarkable points of 

 structure." 



Some Notes by Mr. Martin, of the dissection of a red-backed Pe- 

 lican, Pelecanus rufescens, Gmel., which recently died at the Society's 

 Gardens, were also read. They refer to the male bird of a pair, the 

 female of which was examined in 1832 by Mr. Owen, whose notes of 

 the dissection were read at the last Meeting as recorded at p. 154. 



" The osseous structure was light and thin, and the bones of the 

 extremities were remarkable for the extent of their internal cavities 

 and the thinness of their external walls. The os furcatum was largely 

 spread, and firmly soldered to the keel of the sternum, keeping the 

 shoulders widely apart. The clavicles, or what are regarded as the 

 analogues of the coracoid processes in Mammalia, were large, and 

 broadly expanded at their point of union with the sternum. The 

 sternum was short in proportion to its breadth, measuring 4-£- inches 

 longitudinally, and the same across, in a straight line, that is, not 

 following the concavity of its inner surface : its keel was compara- 

 tively but little developed ; it is thrown forwards, however, as far as 

 possible, and projects in a point where it is ossified to the os fur- 

 catum. Its greatest depth is 1 inch 2 lines. 



" The cervical vertebra were 15 in number." 



With reference to the bony union of the os furcatum to the ster- 

 num observed in this Pelican, Mr. Martin remarks that " in the Adju- 

 tant, Ciconia Argala, Vig., though the keel of the sternum is much 

 more extensive, deep, and strong, the os furcatum much resembles that 

 of the Pelican, and is in like manner ossified to its anterior apex. In 

 the common Heron, Ardea cinerea, Linn., the os furcatum is feeble, 

 but is also united by bone to the apex of the keel of the sternum : at 

 its point of union a projection or short process is directed upwards ; 

 the keel of the sternum is here very ample. These are birds not so 

 much of rapid as of untiring powers of flight, which, unlike that of 

 the impetuous Falcon, is sweeping and majestic. In the Falconidcc 

 the os furcatum, though very strong, does not at all approach to the 

 form of a triangle, as in the birds alluded to, but describes a figure 

 not unlike that of a horse-shoe, and a considerable space intervenes 

 between it and the keel of the sternum." 



Further details are given in the ' Proceedings'. 



