538 DR. R. W. SHUFELD? ON THE COMPARATIVE OSTEOLOGY | Apr. 27, 
not prominent and is to some extent slightly rounded off. Thus 
it will be observed that this meliphagidine species possesses a 
very characteristic sternum, quite different from the bone in 
Arachnothera. 
In Entomyza cyanotis the sternum, of course, is somewhat 
larger, and in it the anterior border of the body is thickened 
and the mesial groove with its pneumatic foramina on the 
dorsal aspect is confined to the anterior third of the bone. 
The carinal angle is sharp again and rather prominent, while the 
most distinctive character of this sternum is the unusually short 
manubrial process, though its bifurcations are conspicuous. In 
this bird I should have noticed above that the coracoids are very 
long and particularly slender. 
In Prosthemadera nove-hollandie the sternum is likewise 
distinctive, in that the above-described mesial groove on the dorsal 
aspect is absent, and the pneumatic foramina in that locality are 
reduced to a very few minute and hardly noticeable ones. Very 
little thickening of the anterior sternal border is to be observed, 
and the carinal angle is not produced anteriorly. As compared 
with other Meliphagide, however, the sternum of this species 
may be easily recognized by the remarkably thickened free 
anterior border of the manubrium, which is extended more than 
halfway down upon the anterior border of the keel. Then, 
posteriorly, the external lateral xiphoidal processes are unusually 
slender and long. Distally, on either side, they almost touch the 
greatly produced outer angle of the mid-xiphoidal prolongation, 
thus giving the much elongated “notch” upon either side the 
appearance of a foramen. 
Posteriorly the keel terminates in a conspicuous triangular 
area, and, as usual, there are jive hemapophysial facets on the 
posterior border of either costal process. 
Entomyza cyanotis has the sternum 3°2; <Acanthogenys rufi- 
gularis 2°6; and Prosthemadera nove-hollandie 3:1 centimetres 
long. 
So far as any characters go, the sternum of the last-named 
species is most like the bone in dArachnothera magna, and this 
seems to be true with respect to some other parts of its skeleton. 
Whether this circumstance carries with it the fact that these 
two species are more nearly affined than either of the other two 
meliphagidines just named remains to be seen. It would require 
more extensive and varied material, I must believe, to be certain 
of such a point as this. 
OF THE APPENDICULAR SKELETON: THE PEcroRAL Lims.— 
With great care I have examined and compared the bones of 
both the pectoral and pelvic limbs in the birds named in the 
list presented in the first part of this paper. This part of the 
osseous system has likewise been studied by me in a very large 
number of passerine species from various parts of the world. The 
