97 



CNEMIORNIS OWEN. 



SKULL short and massive, with beak rounded and stout. Carina of 

 sternum aborted. Limb-bones short and very stout, the ulna being 

 shorter than the humerus, and having very prominent tubercles for the 

 secondaries ; cnemial crest of tibia greatly developed. No foramen between 

 third and fourth trochleae of tarso-metatarsus. Spines of dorsal vertebrae tall. 

 The power of flight was absent. The chief differences from Cereopsis were 

 the presence of extra pre-sacral vertebrae, so that two only instead of 

 three ribs articulate with the sacrum ; and an elevated pent-roof arrangement 

 of the ossa innominata, which indicate more decided cursorial habits. 



CNEMIORNIS CALCITRANS owen. 



Cnemiornis calcitrans Owen, Trans. Zool. Soc. V, p. 396 (1865). 



" r I ^HE type species. Very considerably larger than the existing Cereopsis 

 X novaehollandiae, with the limbs relatively much stouter and shorter " 

 (Lydekker). 



Height of back from ground 26 inches. 



Length from beak to tail.... .... .... 34 ,, 



Habitat : Middle Island, New Zealand. 



For full description see Trans. N. Z. Inst. VI, pp. 76-84, pis. X-XII 



(1874). 



