Memoir on the Dodo (Didus ineptus, Linn.)Owen, Richard
History
Memoir on the Dodo (Didus ineptus, Linn.)
Owen, Richard
Dodo
The _ulna_ (Pls. III. & VIII. figs. 16 & 17) is 3 inches 1 line in
length, of the usual ornithic character, with a well-defined, narrow,
elliptic, rough muscular depression, 8 lines in length (fig. 16, _c_),
extending upon the shaft from below the anterior or palmar angle of
the proximal articular surface. This bone has no pneumatic foramen;
the orifice for the medullary artery is above the middle of the same
palmar surface, the canal inclining distad. The shaft of the bone is
nearly straight; the back or anconal surface, which is slightly convex,
shows feeble impressions of the attaching ligaments of the alar plumes,
which are represented in all the figures of the entire or living bird.
A second ulna is 3 inches 3 lines in length.
There was no carpal or pinion bone in the collection of remains
submitted to me: this part of the wing is conjecturally restored in
dotted outline in Plate XV.
_Bones of the Leg._ (Pls. III., IX., X. & XI.)
Of the five _femora_ in the above defined series of remains of the
Dodo, two measure 6 inches 3 lines in length; one (Pl. IX.) is 6 inches
4½ lines; the shortest is a little under 6 inches, with proportionate
differences in the diameter of the shaft. All of them show a small
pneumatic foramen (Pl. IX. figs. 1 & 2, _p_) on the inner side of the
anterior ridge of the great trochanter (ib. _c_), and on the same
transverse line with the head of the bone. This part shows an oblong
depression (ib. figs. 2 & 3, _a_) for the “ligamentum teres” at the
upper and back part. The articular surface on the same aspect of the
neck (ib. fig. 3, _b_), adapted to the trochanterian prominence of the
pelvis (Pl. VII. _t_), is well-defined. The trochanter (Pl. IX. fig. 1,
_c_) rises, ridge-like, above the level of the head, and is continued
from behind the middle of the articular surface on the neck, forward,
with a convex outline upon the fore and outer part of the shaft, where
it gradually subsides; a narrow intermuscular ridge (ib. fig. 1, _r_),
inclining to the middle of the fore part of the shaft, is continued
from the trochanterian one. The small trochanter (ib. fig. 3, _d_)
is a small subcircular tuberosity, in some specimens a ridge, 3 to 4
lines in length, on the inner side of the shaft, about an inch below
the head. The muscular impressions on the fore part of the bone are
well defined. A minute medullary canal (ib. fig. 3, _m_) perforates the
middle of the back part of the shaft; the popliteal fossa (ib. fig.
3, _o_) shows a few small pneumatic orifices; a triangular rough flat
surface divides the fossa from the outer condyle. Above the fibular
depression (ib. fig. 3, _g_) there is a well-defined, slightly raised,
rough surface (ib. _k_) for the head of the ectogastrocnemius muscle.
The ridge (ib. _n_) extending to the back part of the inner condyle is
not sharp; the rotular groove (ib. fig. 1, _p_) is deep and moderately
wide, with the inner boundary, formed by the narrow anterior part of
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