10& 



The distal end of the tibia presents the usual trochlear form, but 

 the anterior concavity above the articular surface is in great part 

 occupied by an iiregular bony prominence. A small cuneiform bone 

 is wedged into the outer and back part of the ankle joint. 



The anchylosed tarso-metatarsals form a strong bone, two inches, 

 three lines in length ; it expands laterally as it descends and divides 

 at its distal extremity into three parts with the articular pulleys for 

 the three principal toes. The surface for the articulation of the fourth 

 or small internal toe, is about half an inch above the distal end in the 

 internal and posterior aspect of the bones ; a small ossicle attached 

 by strong ligaments to that surface gives support to a %\\ort phalanx, 

 which articulates with the longer ungueal phalanx. The number of 

 phalanges in the other toes follows the ordinary law. 



After concluding the description of the osteology of the Apteryx, 

 of which the preceding is an abstract, Prof. Owen proceeded to ob- 

 serve, " that so far as the natural affinities of a bird are elucidated by 

 its skeleton, all the leading modifications of that basis of the organi- 

 zation of the Apteryx connect it closely with the struthious group. 

 In the diminutive and keel -less sternum it agrees with all the known 

 struthious species, and with these alone. The two posterior emar- 

 ginations which we observe in the sternum of the Ostrich are present 

 in a etill greater degree in the Apteryx ; but the feeble development 

 of the anterior extremities, to the muscles of which the sternum is 

 mainly subservient, as a basis of attachment, is the condition of a 

 peculiarly incomplete state of the ossification of that bone of the Ap- 

 teryx ; and the two subcircular perforations which intervene between 

 the origins of the pectoral muscle on the one side, and those of a 

 large inferior dermo-cer^'ical muscle on the other, form one of seve- 

 ral unique structures in the anatomy of this bird. We have again 

 the struthious characters repeated in the atrophy of the bones of the 

 wing, and the absence of the clavicles, as in the Emeu and Rhea*. 

 Like testimony is borne by the expansively developed iliac and sacral 

 bones, by the broad ischium and slender pubis, and by the long and 

 narrow form of the pelvis : we begin to observe a deviation from the 

 struthious type in the length of the femur, and a tendency to the 

 gallinaceous type in the shortness of the metatarsal segment ; the 

 development of the fourth or inner toe may be regarded as another 

 deviation, but it should be remembered that in the size and position 

 of the latter the Apteryx closely corresponds with the extinct stru- 

 thious Dodo. The claw on the inner toe of the Apteryx has been 

 erroneously compared with the spur of certain Gallince, but it scarcely 

 differs in form from the claws of the anterior toes. 



" In the broad ribs (see the Cassowary), in the general freedom of 

 anchylosis in the dorsal region of the vertebral column, and the nu- 

 merous vertebra of the neck, we again meet with struthiovs charac- 

 ters ; and should it be objected to the latter particular, that some 



* In the Ostrich the clavicles are undoubtedly present, though anchylosed, 

 with the scapula and coracoids, and separate from each other. In the Cas- 

 sowary they exist as separate short styliform bones. 



