516 MR. W. K. PARKER ON THE OSTEOLOGY OF THE KAGU. 
In curious contrast with the smooth and rounded condition of the Kagu’s sternum is 
the high, ridgy pelvis, the whole structure being scooped, carinate, and in every way 
forming a fit foundation for most powerful muscles. The high iliac crests (Pl. XCI. 
fig. 1, 77) culminate on each side of the third sacro-lumbar vertebra, the spine of which 
they strongly clamp, like the relation of the suprascapula of the Skate to the cervical 
and anterior dorsal spines (‘Shoulder-girdle and Sternum,’ pl. 1. figs. 1 & 2, sse, v). 
This junction of the sacro-lumbar spine with the iliac crests keeps unankylosed 
(Pl. XCII. fig. 5. s/,27) as in Ewrypyga; at any rate it is so in this specimen, the age 
of which I cannot tell, but which is evidently quite adult. In Psophia, as in Grus 
and Ocydromus, these parts coalesce. Here let it be remarked that the pelvis of Psophia 
is more like that of Ocydromus than that of the typical Crane. 
The angle formed by the iliac crest as it bends downwards towards the acetabulum 
is quite a unique condition. There is as distinct a “ preacetabular spur” in the 
Psophia as in Talegalla; there is scarcely a trace of this process in Grus proper, none 
in the Kagu and ELurypyqa, but in Ocydromus it is as large as in the typical Galline. 
The canals formed by the junction of the iliac crests with the sacro-lumbar spine are 
equally deep in the Kagu and Ocydromus; they are open in Eurypyga, where the crests 
keep wide apart, and are filled in by bony matter in Psophia and Grus. The acetabular 
fenestree are very large in all these related Grallx, the articular surface being a mere 
crescent below; above, there is an oval, slightly concave facet for the “ trochanter major.” 
The overhanging crest of the postfemoral part of the ilium (Pl. XCI. fig. 1, i, and 
Pl. XCIL fig. 5) is nearly as strong as in the Psophia. ‘The descending ilio-ischiadic 
plate (Pl. XCI. fig. 1, i/.ise) is relatively deeper than it is even in Psophia, but in this 
latter bird this plate is less notched than it is in Ocydromus: the notch is more definite 
in Grus; but in the Kagu, as in Hwrypyga, this notch is very deep, and the ilium and 
ischium both end in long processes. ‘The long “‘ obturator notch” (0. ) and the ovoidal 
ischiadic fenestra (is. f) are quite alike in these two species. The ischiadic fenestra is 
broad behind alike in Ocydromus, Psophia, the Kagu, and in Eurypyga; but in Grus the 
posterior end of this space is narrow. The pubis (pd), which is nearly straight in Ocy- 
dromus, Scopus, and Psophia, is much more curved and sigmoid in Grus, and still more 
so in Eurypyga; but this curvature is greatest in the Kagu, it becomes almost suddenly 
bent upwards below the angle of the ischium, and is then deflected inwards in some 
considerable degree towards its fellow of the opposite side. In its rounded and very 
feeble condition the pubis of the Kagu comes closest to that of Eurypyga; for in Psophia 
it is a stout and even a broad bone, much like that of the Rail (Ocydromus). The pubis 
of Grus, making allowance for its great size, is intermediate between that of the Kagu 
and Psophia. 
With regard to the serial homologies of the pelvis it may be remarked that the 
whole of the spinal edge of the ilium is the counterpart of the upper edge of the 
suprascapula; this is best seen by comparing the ilium of the bird with the supra- 
