502 SHUFELDT. [Vol. XVII. 



In a specimen of Melopelia leucoptera before me these pos- 

 terior sternal fenestras are of unequal size, and the anterior 

 "notches" are situated well forwards, the external xiphoidal 

 prongs being curved, rather short, and slender. This speci- 

 men also has its last cervical vertebra fused with the anterior 

 dorsal one. The species has a delicately constructed skeleton, 

 and the fusion of the ilia with the pelvic sacrum is very feeble, 

 the bones being easily separated by maceration. Otherwise 

 the trunk skeleton of this form presents the usual columbine 

 characters. 



Among the dwarfs of the family, as in Scardafella inca and 

 Columbigallina passeri7ia, we find the same salient characters 

 present as were described in the trunk skeleton of Ectopistes. 

 In the first-mentioned species the corpus sterni is strikingly 

 narrow, and the external xiphoidal processes of the bone very 

 slender and spreading, helping to form very large anterior 

 xiphoidal notches. These characters are also enjoyed to nearly 

 the same extent by the little Ground dove. In both these 

 diminutive forms the os furcula hangs high and is almost of 

 thread-like proportions in the size of its limbs. We must 

 also notice in the sternum that the anterior carinal angle is 

 not rounded off as it is in Ectopistes and Zenaidtira, but truly 

 angulated. 



Some notable differences, however, are to be observed when 

 we come to examine the trunk skeleton of Starncenas cyano- 

 cephala, for this pigeon has nineteen vertebrae between the skull 

 and pelvis, fifteen in the pelvic sacrum, and only five free caudal 

 vertebrEE, not including the pyzostyle. There are four dorsal 

 vertebrae, the leading three being fused into one bone. Its 

 pelvis has the general columbine pattern, but the sternum 

 of this bird is, comparatively speaking, enormous in size. It 

 extends so far backwards that the extreme posterior xiphoidal 

 tip is, in the naturally articulated skeleton, in a vertical line 

 below the first caudal vertebra. The keel to this bone is also 

 of an equal length and is not lacking in goodly depth. The 

 corpus sterni is narrow, being nearly of uniform width for its 

 entire extent. Both internal and external xiphoidal processes 

 are slender and produced ; the posterior notches being cleft-like, 



