NINTH ANNUAL REPORT. 292 
NEST AND EGGS OF THE CASSOWARY 
yet been assigned for the remarkable development of the after- 
shaft in the Emeu and Cassowary. 
The third type of degeneracy is well shown by the body plumage 
of the adult Apteryx, in which the aftershaft is lacking. 
To use an irrelevant simile, we can well realize that an athlete 
can run with much greater ease in his loose cotton “‘togs”’ than in 
a starched suit of clothing. Similarly the Ostriches and their 
allies can carry on their cursorial life to much better advantage 
in their loose, fluffy, hair-like plumage than in the less flexible 
feathers of their ancestors. 
E. Claws and Scales——Degenerate as are the wings of the 
ratite birds, all bear the indelible hall-mark of their reptilian pro- 
totvypes. As in many Carinatac, all are furnished with one or 
more claws at the extremity of the fingers. In the Cassowary, 
Emeu and Apteryx the second finger alone is thus terminated, 
but in the Rhea there are two. In the Ostrich, not only are 
there large and perfect claws upon the first, or thumb, and the 
second finger, but even the third digit, although it does not pene- 
trate the integument, bears a vestigial claw, this condition being 
