Osteology o/Aramus scolopaceus. 41 
again fuse into a single median hypapopliysis^ rather than as 
detached processes From the sides of the ventral precentral 
fossa or parapophyses *. I may conclude this particular part 
of the subject by mentioning that Aramtcs agrees with the 
Cranes in having upon the fifth vertebra^ behind the fossa 
already spoken of^ a pair of low elevations which undoubtedly 
correspond to those of other Cranes, and are, in my opinion, 
the first pair of catapophyses. I shall not go into a com- 
parison between Aimmus and birds other than Cranes with 
regard to the matters that have just been treated of; 1 
shall simply remark that in no bird which I have examined 
from this point of view are the likenesses to Aramus more 
considerable than are exhibited by the true Cranes. Indeed 
the similarity, as will have been apparent from the foi^egoing 
descriptions, almost, if not quite, amounts to identity. 
Aramus has seven dorsal vertebrae, of which the last is 
fused with the sacral series, and is, as is shown in the ac- 
companying figure (fig. 2, p. 42), covered by the ilia. The 
first, second, and third dorsals are also fused with each other ; 
this fusion is complete, and there are no demarcations between 
the spinous processes of these vertebrae any more than there 
are between their centra : I could detect no traces of the 
sutures. At either end this series of three vertebrae is quite 
free from those adjacent. Other Cranes shew some differ- 
ences from Aramus in the degree of the fusion of these 
vertebrae of the dorsal series. 
In Grus carunculata there is a ventral fusion which is not 
quite complete, and, moreover, only involves dorsal vertebrae 
2 and 3. Dorsally, save for irregular splints of bone, which 
confer a practical rigidity upon this part of the vertebral 
column, the vertebrae in question are not fused with each 
other at all. 
Grus australasiana exhibits a further advance upon 
G. carunculata. As in Aramus^ there are three dorsal ver- 
tebrae which are fused together ; but the fusion is un- 
doubtedly partial, and they are only completely fused as 
* In tlie Ostrich, for example (see Mivart, Trans. Zool. Soc. viii. p. 385), 
the catapophyses do appear to arise from the parapophyses. 
