120 SnvFKL-DT, Maferial for a Study of the Megapodiida\ [.^('^"o'l. 



Tlu' large ischiadic loranicn is of an (i\-att' outline, with tlic 

 aprx l)fliincl (fig. 28). 



Parker, in speaking of tlie pelvis in Callielurus {Talcgalla) 

 lathami, says: — "The ' ossa innominata ' are essentially Gal- 

 linaceous ; but the prefemoral parts of the iha, with the anterior 

 third of the sacral crest, are very much more arched and elevated 

 than is usual, and even than in the Curassow.* With this latter 

 bird the Talegalla, however, agrees very closely in the structure 

 of the whole pelvis, the bones being in both very spongy and thick. 

 In Talegalla the ' acetabulum ' is more in the middle than in 

 Crax, and the prefemoral part of the ilium is longer, narrower, 

 and steeper ; the os pubis is also thicker. Moreover, the ' ossa 

 innominata ' are wholly coalesced with the sacrum in Crax, only 

 in the anterior half in Galliis, whilst they are wholly separate in 

 Talegalla. Also, in Talegalla and Crax the curious pre-acetabular 

 spur is much shorter than in the type. In the Apteryx the bones 

 are still more reptilian than in the Talegalla ; in the former the 

 cervical vertebrae are much the strongest,' and the ribs and pelvic 

 bones are coarse and flat, while in the Talegalla they are coarse 

 and thick " {loc. cit., pp. 165, 166). 



The Shoulder-Girdle and Sternum. — Here again, in these bones, 

 we find the evidences of Gallinaceous characters in all their parts, 

 which includes their high degree of development and general 

 strength. In the shoulder-girdle the three bones make an extensive 

 articulation at either shoulder-joint, thus- forming a very perfect 

 foramen triasseiim. 



Acoracoid is a notably straight bone, with a length of 46 milli- 

 meters, and exhibits but moderate expansion of its sternal 

 extremity, upon the external margin of which there is a low, blunt 

 process with flattened apex. At the upper or anterior end of the 

 bone the acromium is rounded and directly in the continuity of 

 the shaft. This latter is very straight, smooth, and somewhat 

 compressed from before, backwards. It is not pierced by a 

 foramen for the nervus supracoracoideus. .About one-third of the 

 glenoid cavity is furnished by the coracoid, the anterior boundary 

 of which is considerably thickened and elevated. 



Generally, the ornithic scapula terminates posteriorly in a point, 

 but here it is rounded off, while the smooth, curved blade, with 

 its sharp edges, is thin and flat for its hinder moiety. Anteriorly, 

 the blade is rounded, beyond which it is subcyhndrical in form 

 immediately before arriving at the head, which, in the articulated 

 skeleton, meets both the os furculum and scapula. 



When describing the coracoids I should have invited attention 

 to the fact that in their sternal grooves or beds, when duly 

 articulated as in life, their infero-mesial angles are in contact 

 through a foramen which is to be found in the plate-like part of 

 the projecting manubrium. This is seen to be the case in some 

 otiier representatives of the Gallinaceous fowls. 



* The arching of this ]iait is just similar to wliat is seen so markedly in 

 lircichypieryx, Psophia, and l^Hnuoihcliis ; in otlu-r res])ects the i)elvis ap- 

 proaches to what we see in those genera. 



