Vol. xix.-i SHUFFi.nT, Material for a Study of the Me^apodiidce. 185 



1920 .1 ■ - 



canal for the carotid arteries. On the eleventh, twelfth, and 

 thirteenth there is present a stronj^, plate-like haemal spine, which 

 is more tuberous and notat)lv smaller on the last two cervicals. 

 Neural spines are entirely absent from the tiflh to the eleventh, 

 after which they become more and more conspicuous until tlie 

 dorsal series is arrived at, they being consolidated into one big 

 plate in the first, second, third', and fourth dorsals, and large on 

 the free fifth one. 



Throughout the middle of the cervical chain of vertebra;, the 

 postzygapophyses are elongate and conspicuous, the prezyga- 

 pophyses being stumpy and short, with their facets facing mesiad. 



A small pair of nidinientary free ribs occur on the fifteenth 

 cervical. 



In the co-ossified bone formed of the first four dorsal vertebra, 

 the diapophyses become progressively longer and longer, passing 

 from before, backwards, and their outer ends are united by 

 co-ossified metapophyses. The two leading dorsals possess plate- 

 like haemal spines, these processes being absent from all the 

 remaining vertebr;e of the spine, even to include the last caudal 

 one. 



There are five pairs of dorsal vertebral ribs and one pair of pelvic 

 ribs. From before, backwards, the dorsal series becomes progress- 

 ively longer and longer, while the pelvic pair, being narrower and 

 weaker than their predecessors, is the longest of all. No epipleiiral 

 appendages appear on the last two pairs of this series, while they 

 are short and flat on the leading four pairs, the last but one pair 

 being abruptly angulated upwards. The first pair of dorsal 

 vertebral ribs are free — that is, they do not articulate with the 

 sternum through the intervention of costal ribs ; each has a 

 length of about four cms. (Plate XIX., fig. 42). 



From first to last, the costal ribs become longer and longer. The 

 first pair are feebly developed, and make a weak articulation with 

 the sternum. Broad and thin, the upper end of the pelvic one 

 is much compressed transversely, while its shaft or body is con- 

 spicuously slender. The mid-dorsal costal ribs are broad, much 

 flattened from side to side, each twisted upon itself, so that its 

 sternal end exhibits compression from before, backwards. 



There are six free caudal vertebrae, plus a long, peg-like pygostyle 

 composed of about five more. The distal end of the spinal cord, 

 after passing through the neural canal of all the caudals, passes 

 into the proximal one of this pygostyle, there to terminate. The 

 neural spines are feebly bifid, while the lateral processes arc fairly 

 well developed — the longest pair being on the third caudal 

 vertebra and the shortest on the last (figs. 42, 43). 



Maleo has a large and capacious pelvis, as will be appreciated 

 by comparing its several views in figs. 42, 43, and 44 of the present 

 monograph. In the preacetabular region, the broad, anterior 

 portions of the ilia are much concaved, as either one sweeps 

 backwards to the acetabulum of its own side. Anteriorly, they 

 do not come in contact with each other, while they seize between 



