OSTEOLOGY AND ARTHROLOGY 



27 



scapula. If we fancy this process directed inwards, and 

 sufficiently lengthened to join the sternum, we shall have 

 an idea of the disposition of the bone we are now discussing, 

 and the reasons for which the name has been chosen by 

 which it is designated. The coracoid bone, like the fourchette 



Fig. iS. — Skeleton of the Shoulder of a Bird (Vulture) : Antero- 

 ExTERNAL View of the Left Side. 



I, Left clavicle ; 2, inferior portion of the right clavicle, forming b}' its 

 ankylosis with that of the other side the fourchette; 3, coracoid bone ; 

 4, scapula; 5, articular surface for humerus; 6, superior half of the 

 sternum ; 7, keel of sternum ; 8, spinous process of the dorsal vertebrae ; 

 9, superior ribs ; 10, process of one of these ribs ; 11, inferior ribs. 



which it reinforces, offers to the wings a degree of support 

 proportionate to the efforts developed by those limbs ; for 

 this reason it is thick and solid in birds of powerful flight. 



The superior extremity of each branch of the fourchette, 

 at the level of its junction with the coracoid and the scapula, 

 bounds, with these latter, a foramen which gives passage to 



