470 Reviews — A Gigantic Eoceyie Bird. 



processes. The sternum is unknown. The shoulder-girdle is more 

 like that of a Patite than that of a normal Carinate, the coracoid and 

 scapula being almost in the same straight line instead of making 

 a sharp angle with one another; the coracoid is short and broad. * 

 The humerus has undergone great reduction and is in much the same' » 

 condition as in the Cassowaries ; the structure of the rest of the wing 

 is unknown. The pelvis is remarkably short in front of the ace- 

 tabulum, but is long and wide posteriorly ; the ilium and ischium are 

 co-ossified, and the pubis, which is in contact with the ischium, unites 

 with it for a short distance. This pelvis is not at all like that of 

 a Ratite bird, but is said to resemble that of Cariama. The .bones 

 of the hind limb are completely adapted for a pedestrian gait, and 

 probably the adaptive characters have completely masked any that 

 might throw light on the relationship to less specialized forms. 



The authors discuss the possible relationship of Piatryma to other 

 birds. They dismiss, probably quite rightly, the idea of any near" 

 affinity with the later Phororhacos, but at the same time suggest 

 a relationship with Cariama, apparently on rather slender grounds. 

 They conclude that " probably Phororhacos is a derivative of some 

 extinct Eocene type of normal adaptation allied to the Eocene 

 ancestors of Cariama, while Piatryma would be a derivative of 

 normal Cretaceous Euornithes, allied perhaps more closely to the 

 ancestral line of Cariama". 



From inspection of the photographs alone, it is perhaps rash to 

 offer any suggestions, but several points in the structure of the skull 

 seem worthy of notice. From the figure it appears that there was 

 probably a well-developed fronto-nasal hinge such as is especially 

 well developed in the Parrots ; the supposition that such a joint 

 existed seems to be supported by the condylar form of articulation 

 of the pterygoid and palatine. Again, the closing of the supra- 

 temporal fossa below occurs in many Parrots, and small, sharply 

 defined narial openings also occur in some members of that group, as 

 the authors point out. The form of the jugal and the manner of its 

 union with the maxilla is also parrot-like. On the other hand, in 

 Parrots the orbit is usually closed below, while in Piatryma it 

 remains open, at least apparently so. A simple-headed quadrate, very 

 similar to that of Piatryma, occurs in Stringops, which is regarded 

 by Fiirbringer 1 as the most primitive type of Parrot, although its 

 primitive characters are obscured by later specializations, while the 

 group, as a whole, is considered by the same writer as a very ancient 

 one. Of course, the form of the bones of the hind limb of Piatryma 

 appears to be against any relationship with the Parrots, in which the 

 hind limb has become modified to form a highly specialized climbing 

 and grasping organ, but possibly in the early members of this group 

 these characters had not been acquired, and Piatryma may have 

 originated from some such unspecialized form. The earliest fossil 

 Parrot which is definitely known is Psittacus verreauxii, Milne- 

 Edwards, from the Lower Miocene of the Allier, France ; in this 

 the climbing type of hind limb was already fully developed. 



1 Journal fur Omithologie, 1S89, p. 236 ; also Untersuchungen zur Morpho- 

 logic und Systematik cler Vogel, p. 1285 et seqq. 



