334 MESSES. A. AND E. NEWTON ON THE OSTEOLOGY OE THE SOLITAIEE. 
larger (male 1) specimens, and many of these are quite as stout as those ordinarily found 
in Didus. A pneumatic foramen near the base of the tubercle is generally but not 
invariably present, appearing to be, as in Didus , rather an individual character. The 
curvature is much the same in both birds, showing that Pezophaps must have been as 
bulky as its ally. Many of the posterior ribs bear on their outer surface the same marks 
of pressure or friction (Plate XVI. figs. 62, 63), caused by the movements of the thigh, 
as have been observed in Didus. There appears to have been eight pairs of dorsal and 
four of sternal ribs. The first probably articulated with the thirteenth vertebra, the 
last or eighth with the twentieth, and seems to have been sometimes coalescent at its 
sternal extremity with the sternal rib of the preceding or seventh (Plate XVI. fig. 64) ; 
but this feature did not always obtain, as another specimen of the latter from the oppo- 
site side, and most likely from a younger bird, shows (Plate XVI. fig. 61). The first 
and (with the exception of the single coalescent specimen just mentioned) eighth ribs 
are wanting. On the left side the sixth dorsal rib is missing, but the corresponding- 
sternal rib is present. On the right side the contrary occurs, the sternal rib articulating 
with the sixth dorsal being absent. Thus the ribs represented in the collection may thus 
be enumerated: — 
Left 
Eight 
Dorsal. 
Sternal. 
Sternal. 
Dorsal. 
0 
_ 
1 
_ 
0 
X 
— 
2 
X 
X 
— 
3 
X 
X 
X 
4 
X 
X 
X 
X 
5 
X 
X 
0 
X 
6 
0 
X 
X 
X 
7 
X 
X 
0 
— 
8 
— 
i 
§ 4. Pelvis. 
The pelvis of Pezophaps is represented in the collection by remains which must hare 
belonged to at least thirty-seven individuals ; but by far the greater number of these are 
fragmentary, consisting chiefly of the coalesced sacral vertebrae with mutilated apophyses 
and separated from the iliac and other bones. One specimen, however, is comparatively 
perfect and possesses the pubic bones (Plate XVII. figs. 66, 68, XVIII. fig. 70), the 
form of which in Didus can be only conjectured. Compared with the pelvis of that 
bird, it is by no means so remarkable for the flatness and great breadth of the posterior 
half. One specimen, complete in this respect, has eighteen coalesced sacral vertebrae. 
Two equally perfect examples of Didus ineptus show only sixteen, which is probably the 
normal number in that species. The articular surface of the centrum of the last dorsal 
(Plate XVII. figs. 66, 67) is in Pezophaps almost exactly as in Didus , but the pit for 
the head of the rib is placed somewhat more forward in the former. The anterior 
outlet of the neural canal exhibits as much individual variety as it does in Didus , but 
