238 Mr. J. W. Hulke. On the Shoulder Girdle 



Int. 



Sc. 



Cor 



FIG. 2. Conybeare's reconstruction of pectoral girdle of Ichthyosaurus ('Trans. 



Geol. Soc. Lond.,' vol. 1, Part 2, Series 2, PL 49, fig. 7. Copied in ' Oss. FOBS/ 



Edit. 3, Tome 5, PL 32, fig. 7). 



tions of the Ichthyosaurian shoulder girdle differ greatly, notably so 

 in the positions and the relations of the scapula. As, however, Cuvier 

 copies both, and abstains from expressing his own views on the sub- 

 ject, obviously little weight attaches to his authority in regard to it. 



The passage quoted above from the " Ossemens Fossiles," certainly 

 mentions a " preeminence " on the anterior border of the scapula for 

 affording support to the end of clavicle ; but the passage is not quite 

 free from ambiguity. It does not, however, appear to me to fix 

 the position of the scapula shown in Sir E. Home's reconstruction,, 

 and adopted by Professor H. GL Seeley, which represents a non- 

 articular part of the ventral end of this bone in advance of the 

 coraco-scapular articulation ; for the reconstruction shows the mesial 

 ends of the clavicles resting on the anterior aspect of the cross-bar 

 of the interclavicle, as we know by numerous examples they certainly 

 do in many Ichthyosauria, and not on the antero- ventral angle of the 

 scapula ; so that the end of the clavicle here referred to by Cuvier 

 would seem not to be the inner but the outer end. Where this rests 

 on the anterior border of the scapula, I have noticed in some examples 

 a rough, low elevation, as if for a ligamentous attachment, a circum- 

 stance confirmatory of the idea that the outer and not the inner end 

 of the clavicle is here intended. 



Buckland, another authority cited by Professor H. Or. Seeley in 

 support of his view respecting the ventral end of the scapula, repro- 

 duces Cuvier's reduction of Sir E. Home's reconstruction given in 

 fig. 1, PL 2, ' Phil. Trans.,' 1818 ; and since in his text he omits all 

 detailed description of the several parts composing the shoulder 

 girdle, he leaves us in ignorance whether he had himself formed a 

 distinct opinion respecting the normal position and relations of the 

 Ichthyosaurian scapula.* 



* Buckland. W., ' Geology and Mineralogy considered with Eeference to- 

 Natural Theology,' p. 181, vol. 1, 1836, and PL 12. 



