BIRDS. 151 



frontal that bar (see fig. 11, cl. p. cr.), but does not reach the top (see figs. 10 12). The Sternum 

 in the genus Stila (e. g. in S. bassana) is much longer in proportion to its width than that of the 

 Cormorant ; but in all essentials it agrees with it. In Pelecanus onocrotalus the scapula is very 

 narrow, more curved than in the Cormorant, and is very small in comparison with the coracoid, 

 which is very large and hollow. The prse-coracoid is of an extraordinary width beyond that of 

 any other Bird, and it gives a very peculiar character to the clavicle, with which it is entirely 

 anchylosed. The angle of the " furcula " is but little enlarged by an " inter-clavicle ;" it articu- 

 lates by a flat surface with the angle of the sternal keel. The Sternum is as short as that of the 

 Cormorant; it has five pairs of costal condyles, and its xiphoid region is merely trifid, the 

 " intermediate " processes being undistinguishable ; the external processes are very narrow, and 

 do not reach so far backwards as the middle part. 



In Fregata aquila the Shoulder-girdle is quite similar to that of the Cormorant ; but its bars 

 are very long as compared with the Sternum, which is, relatively, the most square, and the shortest 

 I am acquainted with ; its posterior margin is sinuous ; five projections, severed by four shallow 

 notches, being distinguishable. This Sternum is almost precisely like that of the nestling 

 Cormorant (Plate XIII, fig. 3) ; but this arrested condition is combined with a perfectly unique 

 condition as to anchylosis, for the furcula coalesces with the sternal keel and with the coracoids ; 

 the former condition is to be seen in other Birds, e. g. Secretarius ; the latter is interesting in a 

 morphological point of view, for the thick part of the furcula is largely derived from the coracoid 

 originally, and parts segmented from one another in the embryonic stage are very apt to coalesce 

 in the adult. 



Although the Shoulder-girdle and Sternum of the Pelecaninoe have nothing in them 

 essentially different from what we have seen in the Reptile, yet they are altogether ornithic, 

 and differ very little from what is seen in the highest arboreal Bird-types. 



My space does not permit any illustrations of the large Family of the Laraellirostres, but 

 I shall describe them in a few words, and refer the reader to the specimens in the Hunterian 

 and British Museums. My own collection contains all those of which I shall speak, with the 

 exception of Cygnus musicus and Anseranas? I shall include the Palamedeas, with their arrested 

 horny lamellae, and exclude the Flamingoes, which, although possessed of these lamellse, and rich 

 in Anserine characters, belong to the Ibidine division of the Family Ardeinse. 



To be seen in the British Museum. 



