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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Unfortunately, all that remains of our specimens of Gymnogyps 

 so far as the vertebral column is concerned, are a few of the 

 free ribs and several scattered vertebrae; two of these are the third 

 and fourth cervical, another one from the middle of the neck; one 

 of the last cervicals and lastly the ultimate dorsal — this latter we 

 have devoted a figure to, representing as it does no doubt the largest 

 avian vertebrae of any living form to the northward of the range 

 of the South American condor — nevertheless, we think we may 

 predict, almost with certainty, that even from these two fragmentary 

 pieces it will be found to be the case, that when the opportunity 

 offers for an examination of a perfect skeleton of this bird, that 

 the number of segments in the spinal column will be the same as in 

 Sarcorhamphus ; we have been assisted in arriving at this conclusion 

 by a critical examination of the ribs we have, as well as the sternum 

 and sacrum, that come very near to Sarcorhamphus g r y - 

 p h u s . 



The caudal vertebrae are very much modified, as they are, as a 

 rule, throughout the class ; the number possessed by each species 

 of the Cathartidae has already been given in the table above. 



In the South American condor a complete arcade is formed by 

 the neurapophyses of the coccygeal vertebrae, over the ultimate divi- 

 sion of the myelon, and even the pygostyle is pierced for a short 

 distance to allow the entrance of the nervous cord. These bony 

 arches are surmounted by knoblike tubercles throughout the series, 

 that show a very feeble disposition to become bifurcated at their 

 summits. Many of the lateral elements of the vertebrae are com- 

 bined to form diapophysial processes, which in this bird, are heavy 

 and broad projections jutting from the centra on either side, bent 

 downward, becoming wider and wider as we near the coccyx, 

 to be suddenly suppressed in the ultimate segment. Very faint indi- 

 cations of a hypapophysis occur in any of the first three caudals ; 

 in the fourth a cleft but sessile tubercle is seen, that leans forward 

 to rest upon the under surface of the centrum of the vertebrae be- 



three dorsals, together forming a bone that we believe every one would, as the writer 

 then did, say was composed of dorsal vertebrae alone, in spite of the anterior ribs not 

 joining the sternum by sternal ribs. One other case, and let us take a specimen of Asio 

 wilsonianus to illustrate it [sec Am. Phil. Soc. Proc. 1900. v. 39, no. 164, 

 p. 682, fig. 6]. In this bird we discover, passing from before backward, that the first 

 pair of free ribs hang from beneath the transverse processes of the vertebra as diminutive 

 bonelets, as we found them in Speotyto. Now, the next vertebra behind this one has all 

 the appearances of a true dorsal vertebra (possessing the lofty neural spine, etc.) ; but 

 the ribs still fail to connect with the sternum by sternal ribs. These three varieties 

 may be again divided when we come to consider the appearance or nonappearance of 



