430 



Messrs. A. and E. Newton on the 



[June 11, 



racters. It is much stouter than it is in Bidus — a fact not so surprising 

 when the exceedingly abnormal form it there assumes is taken into consi- 

 deration. At its sternal end it differs from that of most other birds, in the 

 extension and rounding off of the outer border. Other pecuharities in it 

 are also described, one of which appears to be sexual. This is the surface to 

 which the scapulais articulated, and which in the large individuals (presumed 

 to be males) is roughly quadrate, while in the smaller ones (the supposed 

 females) it is triangular. In Pe::ophaps the bones of the wing are more 

 massive and smoother than in Bidus, judging from such remains of the 

 latter as exist. The most remarkable thing about them, however, is the 

 presence of a bony knob on the radial side of the metacarpal, unlike what is 

 found in any other bird. It is large in some of the specimens, supposed 

 to have belonged to old males, but very little developed in the presumed 

 females. It is more or less spherical, pedunculate, and consists of a callus- 

 like mass with a roughened surface, exceedingly like that of diseased bone, 

 and was probably covered by a horny integument. It is situated im- 

 mediately beyond the proximal end and the index, which last would ap- 

 pear to be thrust away by it to some extent. It answers most accurately 

 and most unexpectedly to Leguat's description of it : — " L'os de 1' aileron 

 grossit a I'extremite, et forme sous la plume une petite masse ronde 

 comme une balle de mousquet." A description of its structure, as ascer- 

 tained microscopically by Mr. J. Gedge, is added. The extremity of the 

 wing is wanting. The leg-bones of Pezophaps, when compared with those 

 of Bidus, shov/ more strongly developed ridges and muscular impressions, 

 just the converse of what is observable in those of the wing; but the leg- 

 bones having been minutely and correctly described by prior authors, it is 

 unnecessary here to say much of them. Part of the skull, too, had been 

 already described ; but the only specimen then known was so incrusted 

 with stalagmite that not much could be made of it. The present remains 

 show that it was very markedly different in many respects from that of 

 Bidus, The cranium is narrower and longer, and without the peculiar 

 frontal protuberance of Bidus, being nearly flat at the top, with the fore 

 and hind part elevated into two bony ridges of cancellous structure. The 

 upper mandible also presents a remarkable difference from that of Bidus, 

 where the axes of the nasal process and the maxillary converge, whereas 

 in Pezophaps they diverge. The maxilla ako was relatively very small ; 

 and the mandible differed by being much straighter above, showing a 

 salient angle on its lower edge (which is very inconsiderable in Bidus), and 

 being much more solid posteriorly. In the quadrate the two birds are 

 more alike. The rest of the bones of the head are wanting. 



A comparison of the entire skeleton shows that Pezophaps is in some 

 degree, and perhaps on the whole, intermediate between Bidus and the 

 normal Columbee, while it has some features, such as the armature of the 

 wing, quite peculiar. It has no very near affinity to Bidunculus ; indeed that 

 form must be considered the type of a separate family, though not so aber- 



