MG Zooloyical Society. 



the struthious characters repeated in the atrophy of the bones of the 

 wing, and the absence of the clavicles, as in the Emeu and Rhea*. 

 Like testimony is borne by the expansively developed iliac and sacral 

 bones, by the broad ischium and slender pubis, and by the long and 

 narrow form of the pelvis : we begin to observe a deviation from the 

 struthious type in the length of the femur, and a tendency to the 

 gallinaceous type in the shortness of the metatarsal segment ; the 

 development of the fourth or inner toe may be regarded as another 

 deviation, but it should be remembered that in the size and position 

 of the latter the Apteryx closely corresponds with the extinct stru- 

 thious Dodo. The claw on the inner toe of the Apteryx has been 

 erroneously compared with the spur of certain Gallince, but it scarcely 

 differs in form from the claws of the anterior toes. 



" In the broad ribs (see the Cassowary), in the general freedom of 

 anchylosis in the dorsal region of the vertebral column, and the nu- 

 merous vertebrce of the neck, we again meet with struthious charac- 

 ters ; and should it be objected to the latter particular, that some 

 Palmipeds surpass the Ostrich in the number of cervical vertebrce, yet 

 these stand out rather as exceptions in their particular order ; while 

 an excess over the average number of cervical vertebrce in birds is 

 constant in the struthious or Brevipennate order. Thus in the Cas- 

 sowary 1 9 vertebrce precede that which supports a rib connected with 

 the sternum, and of these 19 we may fairly reckon 16 as analogous 

 to the cervical vertebrce in other birds. In the Rhea there are also 

 16 cervical vertebrce, and not 14, as Cuvier states. In the Ostrich 

 there are 18, in the Emeu 19 cervical vertebrce. In the Apteryx we 

 should reckon 1 6 cervical vertebrce if we included that which sup- 

 ports the short rudimental but moveable pair of ribs. Of the 22 

 true grallatorial birds cited in Cuvier's Table of the Number of Ver- 

 tebrae, only 9 have more than 14 cervical vertebrce ; while the Apte- 

 ryx with 15 cervical vertebrce, considered as a struthious bird, has 

 the fewest of its order. The free bony appendages of the ribs, and 

 the universal absence of air-cells in the skeleton, are conditions in 

 which the Apteryx resembles the Aptenodites, but here all resemblance 

 ceases : the position in which the Apteryx was originally figured f is 

 incompatible with its organization. 



" The modifications of the skull of the Apteryx, in conformity with 

 the structure of the beak requisite for obtaining its appropriate food, 



* In the Ostrich the clavicles are undoubtedly present, though anchylosed, 

 with the scapula and coracoids, and separate from each other. In the Cas- 

 sowary they exist as separate short styliform bones. 



f Shaw's Miscellany, xxiv. pi. 1075. 



