Recently published Ornithological Works. 343 



Mr. Pycraft's long and valuable dissertation is devoted to 

 the consideration of such points of anatomy as have hitherto 

 remained unrecorded, not merely in the Cassowaries, but in 

 the great Sub-class of the Ratitse ; and we may say, at once, 

 that in its ultimate outcome this anatomical portion is mainly 

 systematic. It deals, as based upon the study of CassoAvaries, 

 with the pterylograph)^ myology, nervous and sensory organs ; 

 as also with the osteology, visceral system, and the develop- 

 ment, so far as that concerns the pore-canals of the egg- 

 shell, the presence of the opercular fold (first described in 

 Aptery.v by Parker), and the pterylosis. 



Under each of these heads a considerable amount of detail 

 is systematically arranged, and at the end of the memoir 

 the osteological characters of all the recognised genera are 

 set down in a " key " form, in a manner which cannot fail 

 to be of the greatest service to future workers. It is 

 concerning the sections on the pterylography, the palate, and 

 the muscles of the fore limb, that the original observation 

 and generalization are most noteworthy. To refer only to 

 the chief points, the fact that in Apteryx the first definite 

 feathers do not thrust out the prepennse, and that in 

 Casuarius the remiges of the adult represent the calamus 

 only, modified by a process of solidification dnring prolonged 

 growth, are alone suflficiently important. 



Concerning the muscles, while much detail is given which 

 Avill be of use for reference, the greatest interest attaches to 

 the discovery that in Rhea the flexor carpi iilnaris consists 

 of two portions, of which the post-axial or posterior is 

 bounded by a rudimentary vinculum elasticiim, and that on 

 comparison with other birds the varying proportions and 

 inter-relationships of the two latter are seen to be such as 

 would seem to justify the conclusion that in Rhea we have 

 represented the proto-carinate wing-type of to-day. 



It is, however, in the sequence, and particularly in its 

 vomero-pterygoid portion, that the author is at his best. 

 His work upon this is nothing short of revolutionary, and is 

 in reality the outcome of investigations originating in his 

 recent rediscovery of the segmented nature of the pterygoid. 



