76 MR. C. W. ANDREWS ON THE SKULL AND 
The Pubis. (Plate XVI. fig. 2, pw.) 
The pubis is probably imperfectly preserved ; all that now remains is a slender rod 
of bone arising beneath the middle point of the acetabulum, and running back and 
terminating against the inner side of the styliform process of the ischium, thus closing 
an obturator foramen as above mentioned, Whether when complete it extended further 
back in the usual way cannot be determined. 
Comparison with the Pelvis of other Birds. 
Comparison of this pelvis with that of the Ratitee shows at once that Phororhacos 
certainly does not belong to that’ group, though it may have been, and probably was, 
*‘ Ratite” in the strict sense of the term. It is true that in its length, narrowness, and 
the large development of the supra-trochanteric processes there is some similarity 
to the pelves of Dromeus and Struthio, a similarity which, no doubt, is merely the 
consequence of adaptive modification due to a like mode of progression. On the other 
hand, in essential points of structure, such as the form and relations of the ischia and 
pubes to each other and to the ilia, the structure of the “synsacrum,”’ particularly 
in the distinctive form of the two true sacrals and in the form of the renal fossz, the 
pelvis in the fossil is very different from that of any Struthious bird. In Apteryax alone 
the sacrum shows slight points of similarity. 
Among the Carinate birds the pelves which show most resemblance in general outline 
to the fossil are those of the Grebes and Hesperornis; but in both of these the pre- 
acetabular portions of the ilia do not unite with the spines of the “sacrals” to form an 
jlio-neural crest, but remain separated from them by a considerable interval, while, on 
the other hand, the postacetabular portions approach one another very closely, and 
may even unite in the middle dorsal line; the exact reverse is the case in Phororhacos 
and most other birds. 
To the pelves of the Cranes and Rails the similarity is in many ways remarkable, and 
probably indicates a real relationship with those birds. The form and character of 
the renal fosse, particularly the peculiar pocket-like prolongations of the posterior 
fossee, and the general structure of the “synsacrum,” especially the distinctness of the 
true sacrals, are almost identical with those described in the fossil. One difference, 
however, must be pointed out, viz. that while in Phororhacos the postacetabular region 
is the longer, in nearly all the Gruiformes the reverse is the case. In Fulica, however, 
the post- and pre-acetabular regions are of nearly equal length, and in Cariama the 
postacetabular portion is the longer, as in Phororhacos. 
The pelvis of Cariama is also similar in the form of its posterior border, the presence 
of prominent supra-trochanteric processes, and, so far as can be ascertained, in the 
relations of the pubes. It has, however, a well-developed pelvic escutcheon, the whole 
postacetabular region being relatively wider than in Phororhacos. On the whole, so 
far as the pelvis is concerned, I see no reason for changing the opinion expressed in a 
