338 MR. W. K. PARKER ON THE OSTEOLOGY OF BALZNICEPS REX. 
coracoid for the thick part of the furculum, which does not exist in the Adjutant. The 
coracoid of the Balzniceps (Pl. LXVI. fig. 1, and Pl. LXVII. fig. 1 cor) is half an inch 
Baleniceps. Adjutant. Grey Heron. 
inches. lines. inches. lines. inches. lines. 
Length of scapula .......... 000s cere ee ee cece cess 4 6 2 
Greatest breadth of scapula (flat part) ......+-.---- 55 8 2 
Greatest length of coracoid ...........+++-+e+e+:- Md I, 5 9 2 7 
Breadth of lower articular surface of coracoid 1 5 2 1 93 
Length of sternal keel from apex to end ......-... ++ 5 0 5 7 3 6 
Breadth of sternum across costal processes .......-.- 3 0 4 2 Is 105 
Breadth of sternum across hyposternals .......----- 2 64 2 103 1 6 
Length of hyposternal processes ........++++++00-- 1 4 8 8 
Thickness of keel at the margin near the furculum.... 4 54 1 
Greatest depth of keel .. 0.5.00. 0a5 os olee--- e220 1 3 2 0 1 0 
broad at the middle part, and five lines thick ; it then expands, is deeply grooved in 
front, has its internal edge sharp, which sharp edge at the top forms that incurved flat 
process which articulates by ligament with the tip of the ramus of the furculum, and 
with a similar but thicker process at the upper part of the proximal end of the scapula. 
The shallow glenoid cavity belongs equally to the scapula and the coracoid. 
The sternum of Baleniceps (Pl. LXVI. fig. 1 st, and Pl. LXVII. fig. 1) differs from 
that of the Heron and agrees with that of the Adjutant in being very thick and cellular, 
except at its hinder part. Notwithstanding the thinness and delicacy of the sternums 
in the genera Ardea, Botaurus, Nycticorax (Nycterodius, Macg.) and Cancroma, they 
agree in all essentials with those of the true Storks. In Balzniceps, however, we 
encounter a host of difficulties both in the sternum and also in the furculum 
(Pl. LXVI. fig. 1 fc, and Pl. LXVII. fig. 1 sy), although its general shape and proportions 
agree well with that of the gigantic Storks. The hyo-sternals, or costal processes, are 
exactly like those of the Adjutant, but the epi-sternal process, which is distinct in the 
Adjutant, and long in the typical Herons, is not differentiated in Baleniceps. In 
Parrots, Woodpeckers, and Horn-bills, that emargination is absent which separates 
the epi-sternum in most birds from the tip of the sternal keel. The same thing occurs 
in the Baleeniceps ; so that in this Wader, as well as in those arboreal birds, the keel of 
the sternum projects some distance in front of the coracoid grooves. In all the more 
delicately formed Ardeine birds that we have examined, there is an ascending process 
within the angle and between the rami of the furculum; this is absent in Balzniceps, 
although it is present in Cancroma. In the latter bird, in the Bittern (Botaurus stellaris), 
and the Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea), the furculum is connected by ligament to the 
tip of the sternal keel ; a state of things which occurs in the great majority of birds. 
In Ardea cinerea (and most of the larger Herons), in Nycticorar griseus, Botaurus 
minutus, and in the genera Ciconia and Mycteria, the end of the furculum has a gliding 
synovial joint with the tip of the keel of the sternum; and this appears to be persistent 
