Xl\ 



J SnuFFXnr, Ma/erial for a Study of the Megapodiidce. ng 



luthcr ilium in this region has a straight, sharp, transverse 

 liorder anteriorly, while laterally the bone is concave and looks 

 outwards and slightly upwards. The margin above, next the 

 sacral crest and the anterior one, are finished off with a delicate 

 and raised rim, the infcro-external one being quite sharp and 

 without any such tliickened emargination. 



Posterioriw the ilia diverge from each at a broad angle, and 

 thus allow a clear view of the parial in vertebral foramina between 

 tliem (Plate XII., fig. 25). These foramina arc entu-ely absent 

 on the broad central portion of the sacrum in the mid-area of the 

 pelvis, but they reappear among the last three or four sacral 

 vertebne. 



In the post-acetabular region, the dorsal surfaces of the iUa are 

 nearly flat and quite smooth. Mesially, their borders meet the 

 sacrum on both sides and terminate posteriorly, each with an 

 inturned projection. Anteriorly, in this region, either ilium 

 presents a ])eculiar character in forming a prominent process 

 about 7 mm. above the antitrochanter, which is directed forwards 

 and outwards. 



Neither antitrochanter nor cotyloid cavity present anything 

 peculiar, while the practical absence of the prepubis on either 

 side is something rather unusual in the case of the pelvis of a 

 true Gallinaceous fowl. 



Turning to the ventral side of the bone, it is to be observed 

 that the first sacral vertebra is by no means firmly anchylosed 

 with tlie next one of the sacrum. It haS' all the appearance of 

 being free — a point I cannot well decide upon in a borrowed, 

 articulated skeleton, come from whence it may. 



The remainder of the sacrum, however, is very thoroughly 

 co-ossified and intimately united with the iliac bones. 



There appear to be sixteen vertebrae in this pelvic sacrum, the 

 second to the sixth inclusive of which throw out their diapophyses 

 to meet the under surfaces of the ilia, anterior to the " pelvic 

 basin." In the next following ten these transverse apophyses 

 reach only to the iliac border on either side, and from the tenth 

 to the sixteentli inclusive each pair Ixxomes progressively longer 

 as we follow them backward. 



All the si.x caudal vertebra; and pygostyle arc of a more or less 

 rudimentary character, and this is especially true of the last one 

 and the pygostyle, both of which are unusually small and devoid 

 of any apophyses. 



Posterior to the acetabulum and antitrochanter, upon either 

 side, the pelvis is smooth and universally concave from above, 

 downwards. Its hinder border is sharp, and presents no evidence 

 of an " ilio-ischiadic notch." The pubic element closes in a small 

 and elliptical obturator foramen, and posterior to it an elongated 

 obturator space. This pubic style is very slender anteriorly, but 

 gradually becomes broader as it comes in contact with the ischium 

 behind, beyond which it projects, and to some extent narrows 

 again, to terminate in a blunt ])()inl. 



