Shuff.i.d r : OstK(M,(")(;v of tuf. Lnricoi,^. 49 



as a tuberous and solid mass, bearing sharp spines directed backwards 

 upon its outer and posterior angles. These are the continuations of 

 the lateral raised rims of the neural spine proper, and they j^roject 

 also somewhat anteriorly. 'I'his is one of the most prominent features 

 of the fifteenth or last cervical vertebra ; it is explained, however, in 

 the dorsal series by its e\olulion iiuo the ordinary (|uatlrate dorsal 

 neural spine, with the forked extremities of the limiting rim at their 

 crests. The haemal spine of the fifteenth vertebra is tri])licated, having 

 three plates, though they are not ])articularly prominent. In it, too, 

 the free ribs are quite long, and are without uncinate processes. 



Numenius borealis shows but i^tw structural departures in its cervical 

 vertebr?e from those I have just described for N. longirostris. 



The cup of the atlas does not seem to be perforated at its base ; the 

 pleurapophyses of the thirteenth vertebra bear no striking resemblance 

 as yet to free ribs, as they do in the Long-billed Curlew. The carotid 

 canal is found traversing identically the same vertebrae in mid-neck. 

 In both these Curlews there are five vertebrae in the dorsal series, all 

 articulating freely with each other. Above, they have long osseous 

 metapophysial filaments that stretch for the length of one or nearly 

 two vertebrae before and behind, in the middle of this region. The 

 tendons have also become ossified and attached, and reach far back- 

 wards from each segment, those of the last running into the ilio-neural 

 canals of the pelvis. The first dorsal vertebra shows two little lateral 

 processes at the lower extremity of its haemal spine ; this plate is single 

 and prominent in the next vertebra, but does not appear in any of the 

 others. Each dorsal vertebra has a pair of ribs, of the most common 

 pattern, as seen among birds. They connect with the sternum by 

 costal ribs, and have freely articulated uncinate processes. These lat- 

 ter are very long and narrow, reaching nearly in mid-series to the 

 second rib to their rear. 



In Curlews the jjelvis also su])ports two ])air of free ribs. The first 

 pair has all the character of the dorsals, being simply slenderer and 

 longer. The ultimate pair is devoid of uncinate j)rocesses, and their 

 haemapophyses only articulate along the posterior borders of the pair 

 in front of them, so do not reach the sternum. I find again in my 

 specimen of A^. borealis zxi additional piece, or free costal rib, attached 

 to the jjosterior border of this last jtair of costal ribs, on either side. 

 The number and arrangement of the vertebrae and ribs of the spinal 

 column, as far as examined, agree very nearly with Liinosa fedoa and 

 Recurvirostra. .<^\'C^ - 





