1882.] PKOF. OWEN ON THE STERNUM OF NOTORNIS. 689 



1. On the Sternum of Notornis and on Sternal Characters. 

 By Professor Owen, C.B., F.R.S., F.Z.S., &c. 



[Eeceived November 10, 1882.] 



In the ' Proceedings ' of this Society for 1882, referring to the 

 meeting held January 7th, it is stated that "Professor Newton 

 exhibited the skin and bones of the trunk of a specimen of Notornis 

 mantelli, obtained in the province of Otago eighteen months before." 

 On these specimens the sole remark recorded is, " that the sternum 

 figured in the Society's ' Transactions,' vol. iv. pi. 4. figs. 5-8, as of 

 this species must belong to a totally different form" (loc. cit. p. 97). 



As a means of judging of the degree and kind of difference, it may 

 not be unacceptable to ornithologists to compare the subjoined 

 figures (pp. 690, 691) of the sternum of Notornis mantelli, of the 

 natural size, with those of the sternum in the plate above cited, the 

 original of which may be seen in the Geological Department of the 

 Museum of Natural History, Cromwell Road. 



Prior to the date of Prof. Newton's communication I had received 

 from Prof. T. JefEery Parker, University of Otago, New Zealand, a 

 notice of the arrival there of the skin and following parts of the 

 skeleton of a Notornis mantelli, viz. the bones of the trunk with 

 some lower cervical and anterior caudal vertebrae, the scapular 

 arch with sternum, and both femora articulated with the pelvis. 

 As it was Prof. Parker's expressed intention to submit a descrip- 

 tion of these unique specimens to the Otago Institute, and as he was 

 so good as to send me an impression of the plate, giving reduced 

 views, front and side, of the sternum with other bones of the trunk, 

 I reserved any remark thereon until the reception of the Professor's 

 full and instructive ' Memoir,' which has appeared in the 14th volume 

 of the ' Transactions of the New-Zealand Institute,' 8vo, p. 255 

 (1882). 



Not until the year 1870 had I the opportunity of describing the 

 sternum of Aptornis, the extinct Ralline genus surpassing in size 

 Notornis. 1 then remarked : — " The inferiority of size of the 

 sternum figured (plate 4. figs. 5-8^) to the sternum of Jptomis 

 de/ossor is greater than that of the femur of Aptornis otidiformis as 

 compared with that of Aptornis defossorp This might have favoured 

 the conclusion arrived at, or inclined to, in 1850, and indicated in 

 the title to my former paper, in vol. iv. p. 1, of our ' Transactions.' 

 But further insight was to be had by comparison of the subject of 

 plate 4. figs. 5-8 with the parts of the skeleton oi Aptornis otidi- 

 formis subsequently acquired. 



Such comparison suggested, in 1870, the following remarks : — 

 "The relative size of the smaller sternum to the ievaux oi Aptornis 

 otidiformis is more like the relative size of the sternum of Aptornis 

 de/ossor to the femur of that species, than is the relative size of the 

 ' smaller sternum ' to the femur of Notornis, Seeing, therefore, in 

 1 Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. iv. pp. 1-18, Febr. 1850. 



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