MESSES. A. AND E. NEWTON ON THE OSTEOLOG-Y OE THE SOLITAIRE. 343 
less developed osseous growths on the ulna and radius just mentioned. But unquestion- 
ably it answers most accurately to Leguat’s words — 
L’os de 1’ aileron grossit a l’exfcremite, & forme sons The Bone of their Wing grows greater towards the 
la plume une petite masse ronde comme une balle de Extremity, and forms a little round Mass under the 
mousquet. (1st ed. vol. i. pp. 98, 99.) feathers, as big as a Musket Ball. (Engl, transl. p. 71.) 
Mr. Joseph Gedge, of Gonville and Caius College, has been good enough to furnish 
us with the following account of the microscopic appearance of this singular struc- 
ture : — 
“ On removing a portion of the exterior (after reducing it to a sufficient tenuity) it 
presented under a low power the cancellous appearance of moderately old callus. On 
examining it with a high power the lacunae were for the most part irregular in form ; 
some round with jagged edges, others irregularly stellate, connected together by pro- 
cesses from the lacunae without the intervention of true canaliculi. A few normal 
lacunae and a few vascular canals existed ; hut there was no lamination. The osseous 
matter was arranged so as to give an unusually fibrillated aspect to the bone. Irre- 
gularity in the form of the lacunae may not unfrequently be observed in the exterior 
portion of osseous outgrowths ( e . g. spavin), when the structure of the interior in no way 
departs from the ordinary characters of normal bone. It is, however, a character which 
belongs only to bone which has passed through the stage of rudimental fibrous tissue, 
and which has not been taken up and laid down again. This growth I consider to be of a 
nature that might have been produced by irritation of the periosteum, and its formation 
would appear to have been physiologically analogous to the commonest form of callus.” 
The indicial and median portions of the metacarpal bear to each other much the 
same relation that they appear to do in other Columb.ee , such as Columba and Didun- 
culus. The distal end has two well-marked articular surfaces for as many phalanges. 
There is no trace of quill-marks to be seen on any of the specimens. 
The remaining bones of the wing are wanting. 
§ 8. Bones of the Leg. 
The leg-bones of Pezophaps when compared with those of JDidus show very much 
more strongly-developed ridges and muscular impressions, being exactly the converse of 
what is to be remarked of the wing-bones of the two birds. As regards massiveness 
they are more nearly on a par ; but in this respect the leg-bones of JDidus vary consider- 
ably from one another*. Generally, however, the leg-bones of Pezophaps are decidedly 
longer than those of JDidus , and the excess increases toward their extreme members. 
Thus while the smaller (female 1) femora of Pezophaps are in many instances greatly 
surpassed in length by the larger (male V) ones of JDidus, the corresponding tibio-tarsals 
of the two are most generally equal, and of the tarso-metatarsals of Pezophaps only some 
* This variability is not likely to have been sexual. Of the two longest tibio-tarsals of Diclus in our pos- 
session, that which is only very slightly (if at all) shorter than the other is most perceptibly and out of all 
proportion more slender. 
