Cu. IT] OF THE SOLITAIRE. 117 
As formerly mentioned, three femora are contained in the Andersonian Museum, two right and one left ; 
and a left femur incrusted with stalagmite, in the Parisian Collection (Plate XIV. Fig. 8-10). The most 
perfect of the former is the nght femur (7. Fig. 4-7), which is nearly entire, and belongs to a young indi- 
vidual ; it is destitute of the pneumatic foramen, as in all Pigeons, except Gowra. The femur, in general, 
does not yield any very distinctive character, but that in question resembles very closely in all respects, the 
same bone in Pigeons ; it is not arched forwards as in the typical Raptores. Ina left femur of the same size, 
but much mutilated at the extremities, and belonging probably to an adult female, the compact parietes of the 
shaft were one eighth of an inch externally, and one line anda half internally ; while the femur of the gigantic 
Crane, of larger size, but possessed of pneumaticity, is only half a line in thickness. The cancellated tissue 
extends into the medullary cavity for a short distance at each end, and chiefly along the inner wall 
inferiorly ; and the medullary cavity is lined by a thin osseous lamina, with few and minute 
perforations. The third specimen, also of the left side, is equally imperfect, but is much larger 
than either of the former, and belongs evidently to an adult male ; it is larger than the corresponding bone 
in any gallinaceous bird, but is exactly equal in size to the coated femur (i. Fig. 8-10), when 
allowance is made for the thickness of the incrustation. There can be no reasonable doubt, that these bones 
appertain to one and the same species, the diversity in size being attributable to differences in age and sex. 
The fragment of the left dca (Plate XV. Fig. 1, 1 a) closely resembles the corresponding bone in 
Goura ; and judging from analogy, the upper third is removed, so that its length, when perfect, was 
probably nine inches and a half; the thickness of the parietes of the shaft is about one line. Its distal 
articular surface corresponds in size to the proximal extremity of the perfect metatarsus (7. Fig. 3,3 ¢). 
Its length indicates a bird of great stature, and fully justifies Leguat’s statement, that the Solitaire is 
taller than a Turkey. Like the humerus and femur, this bone furnishes, in general, but few characters of 
importance ; the osseous bridge under which the tendon of the Jf. extensor communis digitorum passes, 
distinguishes it at once from the corresponding bone in the Struthionide. ‘The styloid inferior extremity 
of the fidu/a was probably more elongated downwards than in Gowra. 
Fortunately we are enabled to compare that important bone—the metatarsus, with its homologue in the 
Dodo, and thus to test the evidence afforded by the eraniwm. The right metatarsus (id. Fig. 3-8 d), in 
the Parisian Collection, is covered with stalagmite ; nevertheless, it enables us to establish the family affinity 
of these extinct birds. It differs from that in the Dodo, im its greater length and relative slenderness, 
the ratio being as seven to five: but the metatarsus of the Solitaire resembles that of the Dodo, in the 
form of the shaft ; in the projection of the ento-calcaneal process, and in the great development of its 
supporting buttress; in the form of the ecto-calcaneal process ; in the calcaneal tube opening on the outer 
surface of the buttress ; in the presence of the articular facet for the accessory metatarsus ; in the expansion of 
the distal extremity, and in the relative levels of the trochlee. We are enabled to state more distinctly the 
differences in minute configuration between this bone in the Dodo and Solitaire, by an examination of the 
left metatarsus in the Andersomian Museum (74. Fig. 2-24), which exactly resembles the Parisian 
specimen in form and size; and although much mutilated at the extremities, it supplies information other- 
wise unattainable. The proximal extremity of a ght metatarsus (2d. Fig. 4), found with the preceding, 
and belonging to an immature individual, points out distinctly the relation of the calcaneal tube to the 
buttress. 
The posterior metatarsal must have had the same dimensions as that in the Dodo, and we may safely 
conjecture, that it possessed the characteristic form of that bone in the Codwmbide. The toes would, perhaps, 
be less robust, and more elongated than in the Dodo. 
