Memoir on the Dodo (Didus ineptus, Linn.)Owen, Richard
History
Memoir on the Dodo (Didus ineptus, Linn.)
Owen, Richard
Dodo
the inner condyle (ib. fig. 5, _e′_), most produced. The breadth of
this end of the longer femora is 1 inch 9 lines; the character of the
distal articular surface is shown in Pl. IX. fig. 5.
The head, neck, and great trochanter (Pl. XI. fig. 6) are occupied by a
pneumatic cancellous structure, with a thin compact wall on the upper
part and sides: this begins to gain thickness at the under part of the
neck and at the lower and back part of the trochanter, the compact wall
acquiring a thickness of a line at the beginning of the shaft, where
the cancellous structure is confined to the outer side of the pneumatic
cavity; this structure gives way to a few delicate filaments of bone
crossing the cavity of the major part of the shaft, and is not resumed
until the bone expands to form the distal condyles (ib. fig. 7).
The five _tibiæ_ of _Didus_ in the same collection range in length from
8 inches 8 lines to 9 inches. The procnemial ridge (Pl. X. figs. 1,
2, 4, _p_) is a triangular plate, with the base longest and the apex
rounded off: it inclines outwardly, and does not extend much more than
half an inch from the level of the proximal end of the bone: the length
of its base rather exceeds an inch: on its inner side a triangular
muscular surface is well defined by an irregular inferior line or ridge
(ib. fig. 2, _n_). The ectocnemial process (ib. figs. 1, 3, 4, _e_)
is thicker, shorter, and terminates roughly and obtusely. There is a
low, narrow ridge (ib. fig. 2, _g_), about half an inch in length, on
the inner side of the proximal end of the shaft, beginning about 9
lines below the articular surface at that end. The fibular ridge (ib.
figs. 1 & 3, _h_), beginning 1 inch 8 lines from the proximal end,
extends about 2 inches down the outer side of the shaft. The epicnemial
ridge (ib. figs. 1 & 4, _k_) is obtuse, and but little produced above
the upper articular surfaces or condyles (_t_ _d_) of the tibia: the
breadth of that end of the bone, in the longest specimen, is 2 inches 3
lines. The tendinal canal at the fore part of the distal end is bridged
by bone (ib. fig. 1, _l_), and is situated on the inner half of that
aspect of the shaft; the lower opening is subcircular and close to
the anterior end of the inner lower condyle (ib. _a_), which is more
produced forward than the outer one (ib. _b_). Their hind ends project
very little beyond the level of that aspect of the shaft of the tibia.
An intermuscular ridge (ib. fig. 1, _r_) strengthens into a tuberosity
(_r′_) at the inner side of the tendinal groove.
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