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Femur.—In no specimen that has hitherto reached me are the dinornithic modifica- 
tions of the femur more definitely and strongly marked than in the present example 
(Pls. XLI. & XLI. A.), in which the effects of the usual posthumous abrasion are limited 
to the articular prominence of the head, and to parts of the margin of the trochanter ana 
hinder projections of the outer condyle. I propose, theretone, to take the opportunity 
of noting the characters more in detail than has been done in previously figured, less 
complete, and commonly larger specimens. = 
The head (a) of the femur, in all the species of Dinornis, is less sessile than in birds 
generally; but the part supporting it has more the character of a necl a the piven 
species than in Dinornis giganteus’, in Dinornis casuarinus*, or in Dinornis PTET’. 
The constriction affects the entire circumference, but is deepest, as usual, anteriorly, 
the head being turned rather forward as well as projecting inward ; the axis of the head 
and neck also slightly inclines upward. The head forms more than a hemisphere. 
From the neck (d), or constriction, the bone rapidly expands to the great trochanter 
(7) and shaft. The articular surface is continued from the head upon the anterior 
two thirds of the upper part of the trochanter (Pl. XLI. a. fig. 2, ¢), and is defined 
by a linear boundary from the non-articular part. Three surfaces may be noted in 
the enormous trochanterian enlargement of this femur—the upper (epitrochanterian) 
subdivided as above, the anterior, and the postero-external. 
The anterior, or “ pretrochanterian,” surface (Pl. XLI. fig. 1, g) is bisected by a low 
linear ridge (/), which, rising about an inch below the angular summit, passes down- 
ward and inward, and subsides (at /’) on the inner side of the shaft above the expansion 
of the inner condyle. 
The pre- meets the post-trochanterian tract at an acute angle (*); the latter surface 
is traversed vertically by a rough, broad tract, commencing about an inch from the 
summit of the trochanter, and gradually approaching the anterior angle as it descends, 
below which the ridge bends forward, and terminates in the ectotrochanterian tube- 
rosity (Pl. XLI. fig. 1, 7). 
The rough tract defines a narrow ectotrochanterian surface from the broader post- 
trochanterian surface (Pl. XLI. a. fig.1,m). On this surface are two rough oval shallow 
depressions for muscular insertions ; the upper one (Pl. XLI. a. fig. 1, , for the “ ab- 
ductor femoris”) is 10 lines below the epitrochanterian ridge, and measures 15 lines by 
10 lines: half an inch below and rather in advance of this is the second depression, of 
rather smaller size, but with a more irregular surface (ib. ib. 0, for the « quadratus 
femoris”). From this surface seyeral longitudinal striae descend vertically, and are 
continued by one principal linear ridge down the outer side of the shaft to within an 
inch of the ectocondylar fossa (ib. #’). A rough tract is continued from the lower 
gluteal surface obliquely downward and backward, contracting to the strongly marked 
ridge (Pl. XLI. a. fig. 1, p). To this ridge converges an inner less prominent oblique 
* PL XXXVI, fig. 1. * Pl. XXXVIII, figs, 1, 2, * Pl, LXXIX. fig. 1. 
