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It referred to the statement made by Mr. Martin at the Meeting 

 on February 10, 1835 (page 17), that in the Adjutant, Ciconia 

 Argala, Vig. and Childr., and in the common Heron, Ardea cinerea, 

 Linn., no less than in the Pelicans, the os furcatum is united by bone 

 to the anterior apex of the keel of the sternum. After remarking 

 that this statement is at variance with his experience, Mr. AUis pro- 

 ceeds thus : — " I have prepared a skeleton of the Adjutant; two of 

 the purple Heron ; two Storks ; three of the common Heron ; one 

 common Bittern ; one little Bittern ; one American small green Heron ; 

 a British Crane ; and a Polish Crane. Among all these the Cranes are 

 the only birds where there is true osseous union between the furcu- 

 him and the keel: and in the Cranes the furculum is rather a forked 

 elongation of the keel than a distinct bone. Out of more than two 

 hundred birds' skeletons which I have mounted, the Pelican is the 

 only other bird where the furculum and sternum form one bone. 

 The Cormorant and the Gannet have the furculum resting on the 

 apex of the keel like the Adjutant and the Herons, but there is no 

 bony junction. I think the specimens of Mr. Martin must have 

 been extremely old birds, or that the bone must have been injured 

 at the point of union, and that the osseous union was formed in con- 

 sequence of that injury. The Heron's skeletons which I have my- 

 self prepared are by no means young birds ; but I suppose extreme 

 old age would be very likely to form a bony junction between bones 

 pressing so close to each other as they do in this case. 



" It may be thought singular that I should prepare duplicates of 

 the skeleton of so common a bird as the common Heron. The reason 

 is, that two of the skeletons exhibit curious specimens of nature's 

 reparation of broken limbs, and the third is a singular instance of 

 malformation. The sternum of the Heron is united to the vertebral 

 column by four short ribs which are attached to four of the largest 

 of the long ribs : this specimen has the usual number of short ribs ; 

 but one of them is placed so far forward on the sternum as to be 

 quite out of the reach of any of the vertebral or long ribs ; and the 

 last of the four long ribs which is usually attached to one of the short 

 or sternal ribs, wanting its usual support, is attached by cartilage to 

 the rib immediately preceding it." — T. A. 



A Note from Mr. Martin, on the same subject, was subsequently 

 read. 



Mr. Martin admits the incorrectness of his previous statement as 

 regards the Adjutant and the common Heron ; but remarks that the 

 union, although not effected by bone, is yet so close as probably to 

 have nearly the same physiological consequence as if anchylosis had 

 actually taken place. When considering the sternum and os furcatum 

 of the Pelican as structurally bearing upon the bird's powers of flight, 

 he looked for analogies of the structural point in question among 



