388 



Mr. F. E. Beddard on the 



(fig. 3), is a little different^ and ncarei" to that of the Peris- 

 teropodes. There is no narrow neck (witli an exception 

 which will be noted immediately) uniting the two portions 

 of the posterior lateral process ; they seem, as it were, to 

 arise separately from the body of the sternum. The Guinea- 

 fowl's sternum is thus broader in this region than that of 

 Gallus. But I should remark that one of the two examples 



Fiff. 3. 



Sternum of Niimida vulturma. 

 (Dorsal aspect, § nat. size.) 



of JSumida meleagris which I studied (a young hen) presented 

 a sternum which in the particular just mentioned was pre- 

 cisely like that of a Common Fowl. This, however, was 

 probably due to incomplete ossification, which might, later, 

 have broadened the " neck.^' 



The form of the carina sterni differs among the Guinea- 

 fowls : in N. cristata and N. eduardi (which are sometimes 

 spoken of as the genus Gutteru) the anterior margin is much 

 more cut away than in the remaining species, to make room 



