Miscellaneous. 67 



beyond the ridge bounding this part of the pelvis, and for some dis- 

 tance down the slope of its side, where it has beneath it the aponeu- 

 rotic portion of some of the great muscles of the thigh. The feather- 

 bearing portion forms a sort of broad, irregular, transverse band 

 across this region of the pelvis, encroached upon anteriorly by a wide 

 semicircular notch, and posteriorly, a little to the right of the centre, 

 by an irregular worn space exhibiting numerous perforations, indica- 

 ting the former positions of feathers which have disappeared. The 

 skin itself is rather thick and coarse. The remains of feathers occur 

 only on that part of the skin which covered the flat back of the pelvis, 

 in which their insertions give rise to strongly marked papillae. The 

 skin on the sloping left side of the pelvis bears no feathers, and pre- 

 sents no traces of their insertion. It appears, however, to have lost 

 some of its outer layers, and certainly does not furnish evidence suf- 

 ficient to prove the existence of a featherless space at this part, which 

 would be opposed to Nitzsch's description of the pterylography of 

 the Struthionidce. 



The feathers are all very imperfect, consisting only of the basal 

 portions of the shaft and accessory shaft, with here and there some 

 traces of the barbs. The latter occur most abundantly towards the 

 left side, and especially in the feathers situated upon the left ridge, 

 from which the specimen here figured (fig. 1) was taken. The shafts 

 are always evidently imperfect ; the longest fragment existing in the 

 skin is only about 2 inches in length. The stem tapers gradually, 

 the quill being the widest part and about Tr l 4 th of an inch in dia- 

 meter. The quill is inserted about y^ths of an inch into the skin, 

 and the webs appear generally to have commenced about jjth of an 

 inch from the junction of the quill with the shaft. From these data 

 it is of course impossible to form any opinion as to the original length 

 of the feathers. 



The accessory shafts are considerably smaller than the main shafts, 

 but still of sufficient size to constitute an important portion of the 

 plumage. The longest accessory shaft that I have been able to find 

 measures 1^ inch in length, and is imperfect; there is little doubt 

 that the accessory shafts were both shorter and more slender than 

 the true feathers. 



The shaft is somewhat convex above, and marked with a fine lon- 

 gitudinal furrow beneath. It is of a brown colour beneath, but pale 

 horn-colour above, probably from exposure to external influences. 

 The accessory shaft is of a pale horn-colour, and appears to be nearly 

 cylindrical. 



The structure of the web is somewhat different from that which 

 occurs in the Emu and the Cassowary. Towards the base of the 

 shaft the barbs spring in groups of four or five together from nearly 

 the same spot, and thus this part of the web assumes a tufted aspect. 

 As we advance towards the apex this arrangement speedily ceases ; 

 the number of barbs springing from the shaft gradually diminishes, 

 until each side bears only a single series of these appendages. The 

 barbs consist of slender, flattened fibres, bearing long, silky, and very 

 delicate barbules, without any trace of barbicels, but presenting a di- 



5* 



