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Mr. W. K. Parker on the Osteology of Baleniceps rex. 449 
tebree there are four canals—the one under consideration, one for 
the spinal chord, and a pair for the vertebral arteries. In the Ba- 
leniceps the vertebree, from the seventh to the thirteenth inclusive, 
are thus constructed. The only Stork in which we have seen this 
structure is the Australian Jabiru, Mycteria australis ; for a know- 
ledge of which fact we are indebted to the kindness of Mr. Edward 
Gerrard. These pairs of inferior processes meet together in but few 
birds; nevertheless this is the case in the White Pelican (Pelecanus 
onocrotalus) and in the Gannet (Sula éassana). In the former bird 
also there is no cup-and-ball articulation of the dorsal vertebree, which 
reptilian character occurs in the Gannets, Cormorants, and Penguins. 
Notwithstanding their great size, the vertebrae of Baleniceps agree 
better with those of the Heron than with those of the Stork; but in 
their shortness, better with those of the Boatbill than with those of 
the longer-necked Heron : for the Heron, like the Giraffe, gains its 
great length of neck by elongation of the individual vertebree rather 
than by an increase in their number. The ribs of the Baleniceps 
are lighter, weaker, and more cellular than those of its congeners. 
The oblong, narrow, neat pelvis of this bird is more like that of the 
Boatbill than that of the Stork, or even of the Heron. It differs, 
however, from that of either of these in not being expanded in a broad 
foliaceous manner over the top of the posterior ribs. This part again 
agrees with the pelvis of the Heron, inasmuch as the ischium passes 
much further backwards than the posterior part of the ileum. In 
Ciconia alba these two pelvic bones terminate in the same vertical 
line, whilst in the Adjutant and Boatbill the ileum projects back- 
wards and furthest. The pubic bones are unusually broad. There 
are seventeen sacral vertebree, the first of which has a pair of ribs. 
The caudal vertebree are six in number, the last being composed of 
eight or ten embryonic vertebree. 
The sternal apparatus of this bird is very interesting. In shape 
the sternum is intermediate between that of the White Stork and 
that of the Cormorant, the keel, as in the latter bird, projecting evenly 
forwards anterior to the articulations with the coracoids, for a greater 
distance than in the Stork and Heron. Moreover, the keel is not 
quite so deep as it is in the congeners of this bird. It passes, how- 
ever, to the end of the sternum, as in them ; whereas in the Pelicans, 
Gannets, and Cormorants it scarcely continues beyond the middle of 
that bone. The episternal process is obsolete in this bird; it exists 
in the Pelecanide, Herons, and Boatbill, and is nearly obsolete in the 
Storks. The hyposternal processes are unusually long and arcuate ; 
and there is on each side of the end of the keel another rather smaller 
emargination which is obsolete in the Storks, Herons, and Boatbill, 
but is well shown in the Spoonbill and the probing waders, Nume- 
nius, Himantopus, Limosa, &c. The tips of the furculum are sub- 
triangular and rather flat ; the bone then becomes very thick and 
trihedral, having at the top of the thick part a large oval facet, which 
is adapted to the under part of the head of the coracoid. This thick 
part is very short, for the bone suddenly lessens, bends backwards, 
and passes on, rounded below and angular above, to thicken again at 
