10& 



The distal end of the tibia prescnts tlie usual trochlear form, but 

 the anterior concavity above the articuhir surface is in great part 

 occupied by an irregular bony prominencc. A small cuneiform hone 

 is wedged into the outer and back part of the ankle joint. 



The anchylosed tarso-metatarsals form a strong bone, t\vo inches, 

 three lines in length ; it expands laterally as it descends and divides 

 at its distal extremity into three parts vvith the articular pulleys for 

 the three princij)al toes. The surface for the articulation of the fourth 

 or small intemal toe, is about half an inch above the distal end in the 

 internal and posterior aspect of the bones ; a small ossicle attached 

 by strong ligaments to that surface gives support to ashort/j//a/anx, 

 which articulates with the longer ungueal phalanx. The number of 

 phalanges in the other toes follows the ordinary law. 



After concluding the description of the osteology of the Apteryx, 

 of which the preceding is an abstract, Prof. Owen proceeded to ob- 

 serve, " that so far as the natūrai affinities of a bird are elucidated by 

 its skeleton, all the leading modifications of that basis of the organi- 

 zation of the Apteryx connect it closely with the struthious group. 

 In the diminutive and keel-less sternum it agrees with all the known 

 struthious species, and with these alone. The two posterior emar- 

 ginations which ■vve observe in the sternum of the Ostrich are present 

 in a Etill greater degree in the Aptenjj ; but the feeble development 

 of the anterior extremities, to the museles of which the sternum is 

 raainly subservient, as a basis of attachment, is the condition of a 

 peculiarly incomplete statė of the ossification of that bone of the Ap- 

 teryx ; and the two subcircular perforations which intervene between 

 the origins of the pectoral musele on the one side, and those of a 

 large inferior dermo-cervical musele on the other, form one of Seve- 

 rai uniąue structures in <fc anatomy of this bird. We have agaln 

 the struthious characters repeated in the atrophy of the bones of the 

 Aving, and the absence of the clavicles, as in the Emeu and llhea*. 

 Likę testimony is bome by the expausively devcloped il'iac and sacral 

 bones, by the broad ischium and slender puhls, and by the long and 

 narrovv form of the pelvis : Ave begin to observe a deviation from the 

 struthious type in the length of the f emur, and a tendency to the 

 gallinaceous type in the shortness of the metatarsal segment ; the 

 development of the fourth or inner toe may be regarded as another 

 deviation, but it should be remerabercd that in the size and positiou 

 of the latter the Apteryx closely corresponds -vvith the extinct stru- 

 thious Dodo. The claw on the inner toe of the Apteryx has been 

 erroneously compared vvith the spur of certain Gailina, but it scarcely 

 difFers in form from the claws of the anterior toes. 



' " In the broad ribs (see the Cassowary), in the general freedom of 

 anchylosis in the dorsal region of the vertebral column, and the nu- 

 merous vertebra of the neck, vve again meet w'ith struthious charac- 

 terš ; and should it be objected to the latter particular, that some 



• In the Ostrich the clavicles are undoubtedly present, though anchylosed, 

 with the scapula and coracoiJs, and sepavate from each other. In the Cas- 

 so\vary they exist as separate short stylifovni bones. 



