46 Mr. F. E. Beddard on the 



is naturally the one which is covered by the ilium at its 

 origin. The first five of the complete ribs have uncinate 

 processes, oC which the three in the middle are the longest. 

 Tliese uncinate processes are so long that they overlap the 

 rib behind. The rib-formula of Aramus will be therefore : 

 r + R + G+1 (lumbar). 



Tliis may be compared with the formuhe of some other 

 Cranes : 



Grus carunculata : r + R + 7 -f 1 + r. 



TetrajJterijx paradisca : r + 11 + 6 + 2. 

 Balearica chri/sopelargus : R + 7 + 1 *. 



I should explain that " y^' signifies a small cervical rib 

 not reaching the sternum, '' R ^^ a larger cervical ril) still 

 not reaching the sternum, the following figure (6 or 7 in the 

 cases described) refers to the true dorsal ribs which articulate 

 with the sternum, the next figure (1 in the case described) 

 a dorsal rib which does not reach the sternum, and, finally, 

 *'r" a more rudimentary rib behind this ; both of the 

 latter arise from vertebrae fused with the sacral series, and 

 may therefore be termed lumbar ribs. 



§ Shoulder-Girule and Sternum. 



These parts of the skeleton have naturally been dealt with 

 by Fiirbringer, and therefore it will not be necessary for me 

 to treat them with any elaboration. There is, however, 

 one point of some little interest in the structui'c of the 

 sternum with which I wish to deal : it is illustrated in the 

 accompanying figure (fig. 3, p. 47), the two drawings in Avhich 

 represent the sternum oi Aramus (A) and that oi Balearica (B) 

 viewed from the front, the keel being vertical in position. 

 The spina externa of the sternum is asserted by Fiirbringer, 

 in his comparative tables of osteological characters on 

 pp. 1582, 1583, of his ' Untersuchungen,^ to be wanting 

 in Aramus. I cannot altogether agree with him, though 

 undoubtedly the process in question is so small as to be 



* For formulai of some f)ther Crane-like birds see Beddard, V. Z. S. 

 1800, p. 439. 



