^^ •"] Shufelut, Osteology of Orfhorhamf^hns magnirostris. 



19 



The skeleton of the manus consists oi the carpo-metacarpus, 

 the phalanx of pollex, which latter supports a small daw, and the 

 usual phalangeal joints of the index and middle digits. The radial 

 or outer metacarpal bone of the carpo-metacarpus is elongate 

 and tilted upwards. It is at the extremity of this co-ossified 

 element of the hand that we find the osseous core of the spur in 

 the Chilean Lapwing {Belonoptents chilcnsis) permanently attached 

 by osseous fusion. 



The proximal phalanx of the index digit and its expanded portion 

 is not perforated as we see it in many Gulls, where it has two 

 vacuities, one above the other, and each often of considerable 

 size. 



There is no claw on the distal phalange of the indicial digit, 

 and this is the longest joint in the hand. 



Chionarchits has the pollex metacarpal elongate, but it is at 

 right angles to the long axis of the bone, while the Plovers and 

 Oyster-catchers have it of medium size. CEdicnemus bistriatus 

 agrees in the matter of the characters of the skeleton of its pinion 

 with OrtJwrhamphiis, with the exception that I do not find any 

 distal claw on the pollex phalanx. 



The Pelvic Limb (fig. 11, Plate VL) — In so far as its legs are 

 concerned, Orthorhamphus magnirostris is a much shorter-limbed 

 bird than CEdicnemus bistriatus, as the following table will show : — 



TABLE. 

 (Lengths in millimeters.) 



The shaft of the femur is quite staight, smooth, and sub- 

 cylindrical in form, and, as in the case of the pectoral limb, it is, 

 with the remaining bones of the leg, non-pneumatic. Caput 

 femoris is marked on top with a shallow, though extensive, pit 

 for the ligamentum teres, the entire head of the bone being below 

 the summit, which latter is smooth and convex from before, 

 backwards. To the outer side of this surface there projects, 

 slightly upwards, the trochanter major, while the major portion 

 of that process extends directly forwards beyond the shaft of 

 the bone (fig. 11). On the outer aspect of this trochanterian 

 enlargement the surface is raised here and there for the insertion 

 of muscles. Distally, the condylar extremity of the femur is 

 massive, and seemingly out of proportion with the proximal end 

 of the bone. The rot ill ar channel between the condyles, anteriorly, 

 is both deep and broad, while the latter exhibit definite beginnings 



