184 SHOULDER-GIRDLE AND BREAST-BONE. 



retires very much from the rostrum ; this is a marked Gallinaceous character, well seen in the 

 heavy Turkey. 



The appearance of the Sternum of a typical Fowl at six weeks old is shown in Plate XVIII, 

 fig. 1 ; it is that of the Guinea-hen (Numida meleagris). The figure is of the natural size. The 

 keel (k.) is much deeper, and the osseous centres are beginning to meet ; the form of the parts 

 may serve to illustrate a medium, typical Sternum in this tribe. The " meso-scapular segment" 

 is more independent in some of the sub-typical kinds, for instance, in Tetrao cupido (Plate XVIII, 

 fig. 3, m. sc.) ; this figure also shows the large inter-clavicle, which grows backwards and upwards 

 from the angle of the conjoined clavicles (cl.). These descriptions of the development of the 

 Shoulder- and Breast-bones of the Pheasant, the Fowl, the Guinea-hen, and the Pinnated Grouse, 

 must serve for the Phasianinse, Tetraoninse, Cracinse, and Megapodiinae ; it is probable, 

 however, that in these last two aberrant groups there may be, in spite of the similarity of outward 

 form, some important differences in their osteogeny. The group next to be described will 

 serve to illustrate this remark, and to show that guess-work is worse than worthless. 



Family" HEMIPODIIN.E." 1 

 Example. Turnix rostratus, Swinhoe. 



For a description of the Shoulder- and Breast-bones in the adult Hemipod I must refer the 

 reader to my paper on the Gallinaceae (p. 184, Plate 35). The subject is Hemipodius varius 

 (Hunt. Mus., No. 1423). All the parts are much slenderer and more elegant than in the young. 

 In the pin-feathered young of Turnix restrains* the scapula has still a large supra-scapular 

 cartilage (Plate XVI, fig. 14, s. sc.), it is very long, narrow, and gently arcuate ; the coracoid 

 (cr.) is very long, narrow-shafted, has a definite meso-coracoid plate (m.cr.), an arched head, and 

 a semilunar epicoracoid (e. cr.), still soft. The furcula (fig. 14, cl., i. cl.) is V-shaped, has narrow 

 rarni, which curve backwards where they join the still separate interclavicle (fig. 16, i. cl.) ; this 

 latter bone is oval, like a little seed ; it becomes converted into an upturned square plate in the 

 adult (op. cit., Plate 35, fig. 5, fr.). The "meso-scapular segment" (fig. 15, m. sc. s.) crowns 

 the head of each clavicle ; it is composed of consistent hyaline cartilage ; the prse-coracoid 

 segment has become a " coraco-clavicular ligament." The Sternum is very broad and short, and 

 much unlike that of the adult in this respect (op. cit., Plate 35, fig. 6), for the bone in the 

 adult comes very close to that of the Tinamou (op. cit., Plate 41, fig. 1). The difference between 

 the Sternum and that of the typical Fowls is well seen in my illustrations (compare fig. 13 with 

 fig. 10) : the lateral xiphoid (e. i. x.) being simple, instead of having the bilobate form seen in 

 typical Fowls. 



The coracoid grooves (cr. g.) are some distance apart ; the rostrum (r.) is large, thick at 



1 I am indebted to Robert Swinhoe, Esq., H.M. Consul, Formosa, for three very young speci- 

 mens of Hemipodius (Turnix) rostratus. They came to me well preserved in spirits, and are a great 

 treasure. 



2 Figs. 13 and 14 are magnified four, 15 17, ten, fig. 19, twenty, and fig. 18, one hundred 

 diameters. 



