188 MR. W. K. PARKER ON THE OSTEOLOGY 



great pectoral is not so pronounced as in the Lapwing and Pigeon, but slightly more 

 so than in the GallinaceEe. 



As in the other parts of its skeleton, so in the pelvis (PI. XXXV. fig. 5), the Hemi- 

 podius seems to have attained to a higher condition of structure than the Gallinae, 

 between which birds and the Ostriches there is but a step. The outline of the pelvis of 

 these little birds is sharper and more angular, and its texture is less coarsely cellular, 

 than in their nearest gallinaceous relative the Quail. Starting aside from these con- 

 geners, they come near to the Plovers even in the " ossa innominata." The relative 

 width of the pelvis is not greater than in the Quail ; they are both flat-bodied birds, 

 and in this respect differ much from the larger species of the typical Fowls, but more 

 especially from the lesser kinds of the Grouse-tribe, from the Pigeons, and from the 

 Sandgrouse. The lateral view of the pelvis of Hemipodius (fig. 5) shows best its charac- 

 teristics. The postfemoral moiety of the ilium {il.) is stunted, the ischium (is.) is much 

 developed — not, as in the Lapwing, by gradual attenuation, but, after leaving a large 

 angle between itself and the ilium behind, passes to its extremity a broad and notched 

 flap of bone, not unlike in its rudeness of outline to the same part in the Apteryx. 

 Besides the three or four notches in the upper part of the ischium behind, there are 

 some less-pronounced irregularities below, bordering the "obturator" notch. This 

 " notch" is more open in Hemipodius varius than in the smaller kind, in which also 

 the pubis scarcely passes beyond the ischium. In H. varius there is an evident projec- 

 tion of the former bone of about the ninth of an inch. The " preacetabular spur," so 

 strong and evident in the " Gallinae " proper and in the " Cracidce," is as faint in 

 Hemipodius as in Lagopiis. This spur is nearly aborted in the Lapwing, quite so in the 

 Pigeons and Sandgrouse. The ischiadic foramen (fig. 5) is smaller than it is in the 

 immediate congener of Hemipodius. There is nothing specially noteworthy in the in- 

 dications of composition in the sacrum (fig. 8, sc.) — save that it is not like a Plover's, nor 

 is the neatly turned prefemoral part of the ilium ; the latter part of the pelvis, however, 

 in its sharpness is manifestly pluvialine'. The upper surface of the pelvis of Hemipodius 

 (PI. XXXV. fig. 8) is evenly convex posteriorly, more so perhaps (more gallinaceous) 



in H. ? than in H. varius. The feeble caudal vertebrae {cd.) bring us close to 



Tinamus ; but between Coturnix and Gallus there is a great range of size, the former 

 coming close to Hemipodius in the stunted condition of its tail. Below the Tinamus 

 come the Ostriches, scarcely more favoured than our own species as to the development 

 of this part of the spine. 



The measurements of the hinder extremity of the Hemipodius and its allies are 

 subjoined : — 



' In the smaller " pressirostral " and " longirostral " GrallcB the pelvis is elegantly open in its structure, the 

 hinder two-thirds being so slightly ossified that there is on each side a double row of \a.rg& fenestra filled up by 

 membrane alone. This is seen also in small " insessorial " and " fiasirostral " species. The fiUmg up of these 

 spaces is a good Gallinaceous character in Hemipodius. 



