164 Transactions. — Zoology. 



keel. The transverse processes are moderate and distinctly- 

 ascending. The neural spine in No. 22 slopes forward, and is 

 much compressed ; in Nos. 26 and 27 it is short, compressed, 

 straight or slightly curved forwards. The post-zygapophyses 

 form a right angle with each other ; their faces are broadly 

 oval. The pre-zygapophyses are moderate. 



Pelvis. 



The pelvis is narrow, and the anterior margin of the aceta- 

 bulum is in the centre of the ilium. The pre-acetabular por- 

 tion of the ilium is deep, and the two meet dorsally in an 

 arched ridge. They begin to diverge far back, behind the 

 acetabula ; their lower post-acetabular margins are thick and 

 blunt. The ventral surfaces of the post-sacral vertebrae are 

 slightly longitudinally ridged. 



Genus MEIONOKNIS, Haast (1874). 



Anomalopteryx (typical), Lydekker (1891). Syomis and 

 Mesopteryx, Hutton (1891). 



Type — M. casuarinus, Owen. 



Figures. — Sternum, Owen, Trans. Zool. Soc, vol. vii., 

 pi. 8 and 9; Ext. Birds of N.Z., pi. 73 and 74. Lydekker, 

 Fossil Birds in Brit. Mus., p. 254, fig. 62a. 



Cervical Vertebra. 



The axis has the pre-axial articulating surface narrow, the 

 height being nearly as great as the breadth. The hypapo- 

 physis descends pre-axially more abruptly than in other 

 genera. The odontoid process is very short. The neural 

 spine high and much compressed. The hyperapophyses also 

 compressed. 



The anterior cervicals — 3 to 6 — are distinguished by the 

 neural spine being single on No. 3, and only partly divided on 

 No. 4. The hyperapophyses are small on Nos. 4 and 5. The 

 post-axial margin of the neural platform is straight in 3 and 

 4 ; concave in 5 and 6. In No. 6 also the platform is slightly 

 arched dorsad. The middle cervicals — 7 to 18 — have long 

 narrow centra, with the post- axial surface broad ventrad and 

 narrow dorsad ; the breadth of the ventral margin is more 

 than the height, and more than one and a half times that of 

 the dorsal margin. Usually there is a pneumatic foramen 

 behind the diapophysis on Nos. 15 to 18. The hypapophyses 

 rise immediately behind the pre-axial margin of the centrum. 

 The neural ridges are high and converge rapidly, their post- 

 axial ends being twice as far apart as their pre-axial ends. 

 The transverse bar is high and rises abruptly. At the pre- 



