The Vertebrate SkeletonReynolds, Sidney H. (Sidney Hugh)
Science
The Vertebrate Skeleton
Reynolds, Sidney H. (Sidney Hugh)
Skeleton
In most of the Ratitae and in the extinct Dodo (_Didus_) and Solitaire
(_Pezophaps_) the wing is very small, but the usual parts are
recognisable. In _Hesperornis_ apparently only the humerus is present;
in some Moas, in which the wing is imperfectly known, the presence of
the humerus is indicated by traces of a glenoid cavity. In most Moas
the wing is apparently completely absent. As compared with those in
other Ratitae, the wings of the Ostrich and Rhea are well developed.
In the Ostrich (fig. 64, B) and Rhea, as in nearly all Carinatae, the
manus has three digits, but in _Apteryx_ there is only a single digit,
the second. The Penguins (fig. 64, A) too among Carinatae have only
two digits, but in their case it is the pollex which is missing. In
the Ostrich the third digit has two phalanges, in all other living
birds it has only one phalanx.
PELVIC GIRDLE.
[Illustration FIG. 64. BONES OF THE RIGHT WING OF
A. A PENGUIN × 1/3. (Camb. Mus.)
B. OSTRICH (_Struthio camelus_) × 1/7. (Partly after PARKER.)
C. GANNET (_Sula alba_) × 1/3. (Camb. Mus.)
In C the distal phalanges of the pollex and second digit have been
omitted.
1. humerus.
2. radius.
3. ulna.
4. second metacarpal.
5. third metacarpal.
6. pollex.
7. second digit.
8. cuneiform.
9. sesamoid bone.]
Birds have a very large pelvis and its characters are constant
throughout almost the whole group. The ilium is very large, and is
united along its whole length with the sacral and pseudosacral
vertebrae. The ischium is broad and extends back parallel to the ilium
with which in most birds it fuses posteriorly, further forward the
ilio-sciatic foramen separates the two bones. In _Tinamus_,
_Hesperornis_, _Apteryx_ (fig. 65, B, 2), and _Struthio_, the ischia
are separate from the ilia along their whole length except at the
acetabulum; in _Phororhacos_, on the other hand, the two bones are
fused along almost their whole length. The bone usually called the
pubis in birds corresponds to the post-pubis of Dinosaurs and forms a
long slender rod (fig. 65, 3) lying parallel to the ischium. In many
birds the ischia and pubes are united at their distal ends. This is
the case in the Ostrich (fig. 65, D), in which the ilia and ischia are
widely separated. In many birds the pubis is drawn out in front into
the pectineal process, this is specially large in _Apteryx_ (fig. 65,
B, 5), and in the embryos of many birds. It is probably homologous
with the pre-pubis of Dinosaurs but in some birds is formed in part by
the ilium. The acetabulum in birds is always perforate.
In _Rhea_ (fig. 65, C, 2) and probably in _Archaeopteryx_ a symphysis
ischii occurs, and in the ostrich alone among birds there is a
symphysis pubis. In _Archaeopteryx_ all three bones of the pelvis are
distinct, but they are imperfectly known. In Ichthyornis they are also
distinct, in all other known birds they are fused together to a
greater or less extent.
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