268 PEOFESSOK OWEN ON CNEMIOENIS. 



proximal row, it answers to the " os magnum " (ib. fig. 10, m). The base of the meta- 

 carpal coalesced therewith is indicated, on the palmar side, by the prominence (in). The 

 stunted "index" metacarpal (ii) has coalesced by its. entire length with the contiguous 

 base of the " medius " metacarpal (in), and its supporting carpal (m). The head of the 

 " annularis " metacarpal is likewise indicated by the prominence (iv) on the sternal side, 

 where it has coalesced with the contiguous part of the base of the "medius" (ni). 

 From this attachment the shaft of iv bends slightly ulnad, and then runs parallel with 

 an interspace about 1| line in breadth to near the distal end, which again coalesces 

 with that of the " medius." This coalescence is chiefly along the thenal side of the 

 bones ; on the opposite, anconal, or dorsal side the primitive separation is shown by a 

 groove. 



The head of the index metacarpal (fig. 10, n) is more tumid, but less extended radiad, 

 in Cnemiornis than in Cereopsis ; and the distal articulation (n') for the proximal phalanx 

 of the index digit is less definite : such rudiment of that finger (commonly called the 

 " thumb " by ornithologists) was probably tied by ligament to its metacarpal. 



The tendinal groove impressing lengthwise the anconal surface of the shaft of the 

 mid metacarpal is less marked in Cnemiornis than in Cere<ypsis. The distal articulation 

 (fig. 11) is similar in both: it is quadrate, flattened on the radial half, and swelling into 

 a condyle on the ulnar half. The distal articular surface of the " annularis " metacarpal 

 (iv') shows more of the typical form, viz. two narrow condylar convexities, with a 

 trochlear depression between them. 



I have not recognized phalanges in either series of Cnemiornis remains which have 

 reached me, and have restored them in the figure of the entire skeleton (PL XXXIX. fig. 1) 

 according to the analogy of Cereopsis — the radial digit or index (n) being represented 

 by a proximal phalanx, the median digit (in) by three phalanges, and the annular digit 

 (iv), again, by the proximal phalanx only. 



To the characters of the pelvis described and figured in my former monograph I am 

 able to add, through Dr. Hector's description, the configuration of the entire part, as shown 

 in the restoration of the skeleton (PI. XXXIX. fig. 1). The ischium, of which the slender 

 continuation from the acetabulum was shown in fig. 7, 63, of pi. 64 {torn, cit.), loses thick- 

 ness and gains vertical breadth as it recedes, and, coalescing with the hind end of the 

 ilium, circumscribes a great ischiadic foramen, of an oval figure, nearly 3 inches long by 

 1 inch deep. The pubis unites with the end of the ischium, a "foramen ovale" inter- 

 vening nearly 5 inches in length and 10 lines at the broadest part, with the canal for 

 the passage of the " obturator internus " tendon^ indicated, as usual, by a low process 

 rising from the upper border of the pubis, and a corresponding one descending from the 

 opposite part of the beginning of the ischium. Both processes are present in Cereopsis, 

 as in Cnemiornis ; but only the upper or ischiadic one marks out the " obturator" notch 



' " Myologj' of Apteryx," Trans. Zool. Soc. iii. 292. 



