44 Mv. F. E. IkHldard on the 



ceiitnnn ; tliey ascend, as it were, tlie median single liypapo- 

 physis, which thns conies to posses^s a trifid struetiire. On 

 the next doi'sal vertebra the hypapophysis is no longer trifid, 

 it is bifid. This change is dne to the disappearance of the 

 original median hypapophysis, which is replaced by the two 

 lateral processes. The succeeding dorsals bear the merest 

 traces of hypapophyses. 



Now, in the genus Grus the conditions arc a little different : 

 in Grus carunculata the last four cervical vertebrae possess 

 the two lateral hypapophyses, which, in successive vertebrjfi, 

 gradually approach the median hypapophysis ; the latter, 

 however, is so sliglitly developed that on the first dorsal 

 vertebrae there are rather three hypapophyses than one 

 strong trifid ventral proc:'ss, sueli as we find in Aramus. 

 On the vcrtebne which follow, the processes in question 

 are barely discernible ; they are indeed not recognisable 

 at all after the second. It will be noted, however, that 

 Aramus is essentially like the other Cranes in these points ; 

 the arrangement in them is suljstantially that of Aramus, 

 shewing indeed but the minutest differences of detail. 

 Among other Cranes there is the same reduction in 

 importance and size of the hypapophyses of the vertebrae 

 in question; Aramus, therefore, slightly exaggerates the 

 Gruine characteristics, and so far it approaches two other 

 anomalous Gruine genera, viz. Rhinochctus and Psophia. 



The " sacral " region of the vertebral column is shorter in 

 Aramus than in Grus, though only by one vertebra, so far 

 as 1 can ascertain from a comparison of skeletons. The 

 relations of the vertebrae of the pelvic region leave no 

 possible doubt in the mind but that Aramus is most plainly 

 a Crane in the strict and limited sense of the word, i. e. a 

 memljer of the restricted family Gruidse ; it dift'ers precisely 

 as do the Cranes from such outlying Gruine forms as Psophia, 

 Rhinochetus, Gariama, and the Bustards. In Aramus, as in 

 the Cranes, there are six vertebrae in front of the lateral 

 acetabular fossae *. Four or five vertebrae (I cannot make 

 absolutely certain without injuring my skeleton of Arrnnus) 

 * I iidc^pt tliis term from ]Mjvart (Trans. Zool. Sor. x. p. ''rjl). 



