150 MR. W. P. PYCRAFT ON THE MORPHOLOGY AND 
with regard to the “ Carinate.” That this attempt has not been fruitless will probably 
be admitted. 
From the nature of the aim of this paper, it will I trust be agreed that the scheme 
of investigation adopted is about the best possible. The desire has been to select those 
characters which bear directly or indirectly upon the problem of the phylogeny of the 
group. Moreover, to have dealt in detail upon the anatomy of the group would have 
been to repeat a vast body of facts already well known and ably treated in the memoirs 
enumerated at the end of this work, and from which much has been extracted to 
serve the ends I had in view. Hence the majority of the omissions which may be 
noted in these pages are not accidental but of design. The memoirs of Garrod, Gadow, 
Fiirbringer, Meckel, Cuvier, D’Alton, Parker, Beddard, Lydekker, and others are the 
milestones which mark the progress of the knowledge which has been accumulated on 
this group. ‘There seemed to me to be no reason or end to be gained in transcribing 
the information which these individually impart, but rather it appeared more expedient 
to set myself the task of recording the substance of their achievements, and to endeavour 
to add a few courses more to the structures which they have reared. 
The rejection of the old terms Ratite and Carinate, which I now propose, seems to 
me to be warranted. The Ratite condition is admittedly a secondary one, and the name 
is objectionable, in that Hesperornis and some “ Carinate” are also “ Ratitew.” The 
terms now suggested are mutually exclusive, and based upon a primitive character. On 
this account they are to be preferred. Furthermore, as will be shown, the change is not 
to be attributed to a desire to effect a change for change sake: it would not have been 
suggested but for the need, and it seems to me a real need, to include the Crypturt with 
the group hitherto known as “ Ratitw.” To have retained the old terms would not 
perhaps have been so very contradictory, for, since some “ Carinate” are really “ Ratite,” 
there is no reason why some Ratite should not be “ Carinate”! A further discussion 
of the subject will be found in the summary. 
In conclusion, I wish to record my grateful thanks to Mr. Rothschild for having 
entrusted this work to my hands. 
PTERYLOSIS. 
The description of the pterylosis of the Paleognathe is most easily accomplished 
by an enumeration of the apteria. Though these are but few in number, they are 
nevertheless of considerable importance, inasmuch as they disprove the prevalent 
notion that the feathers in the “ Ratitw” are evenly distributed over the body. It 
has, however, long been known that apteria occurred in embryos of certain forms, 
e. g. Struthio, Rhea, and Apteryx. 
The descriptions of the Oil-gland, Rhamphotheca, Podotheca, and of the structure of 
the feathers, both macro- and microscopical, will be found in this section. 
