| Inches | |
|---|---|
| Length of œsophagus, including proventriculus | 2⅛ |
| gizzard | ½ |
| Breadth of gizzard | ⅜ |
| Length of cutis from gizzard to cloaca | 5½ |
Skeleton in form similar to that of Furnarius cunicularius, and the other species of this genus.
| lines | |
|---|---|
| Length of sternum | 13 |
| Breadth anteriorly | 6½ |
| posteriorly | 8½ |
| Depth of keel | 5 |
| fissures | 4 |
| Breadth of ditto | 1½ |
| Length of pelvis | 13½ |
| Breadth anteriorly | 5 |
| posteriorly | 10½ |
| Length from occiput to point of bill | 19 |
| Breadth of cranium | 8 |
| Length of coracoids | 10 |
| No. of cervical vertebræ | 11 |
| dorsal ditto | 7 |
| sacral ditto | 9 |
| caudal ditto | 6 |
| Total | 33 |
| No. of true ribs | 5 |
| false ditto | 2·1 |
| Total | 8 |
Remarks:—the last five species approach so nearly, that I doubt the propriety of separating them generically. The skeletons are only distinguishable with the exception of the form of the bill, by the proportions between the different admeasurements.
PTEROPTOCHOS TARNII. G. R. Gray. (Female.)
Tongue pointed, armed with two strong lateral spines, and a few intermediate smaller ones at the base; œsophagus largest at the upper extremity, and gradually becoming smaller towards the proventriculus; no vestige of a craw; proventriculus of moderate size, not much contracted towards the gizzard, which is also of moderate size, and much flattened; not very muscular, and lined with a hardened coat, rugose longitudinally; the gizzard was filled with small pebbles, and a coarse black powder, probably the remains of insects; intestinal canal small; cæca rudimental; rectum large, becoming more expanded towards the cloaca, which is also large; trachea of equal diameter throughout, furnished with one pair of sterno-tracheal muscles, a portion of each of which is continued downwards to the upper rings of the bronchiæ, on which it expands; liver two-lobed.
| Inches | |
|---|---|
| Length of œsophagus, including proventriculus | 3½ |
| of intestinal canal, from gizzard to cloaca | 18 |
| of rectum | 2¼ |
| Diameter of gizzard | ⁹⁄₁₀ |
| Length of ditto | 1 |
The pelvis and ribs of this bird were much damaged; sternum of equal breadth posteriorly and anteriorly, slightly contracted on its lateral edge, near the middle indented on its posterior margin with four deep fissures, the outer ones largest; a large triangular process projecting forwards between the junctions of the coracoids, bifid at the apex; the coracoids themselves very strongly articulated to the sternum, the sides of the sternum to which the ribs are articulated projecting in the form of a process far beyond the junction of the coracoids; the sternal keel is narrow, and has its edge straight; the coracoids are long, thin, with very slight external lateral processes at their junction with the sternum; os furcatum very thin, roundish, a very slight process on the point at which it approaches nearest to the sternum, very slightly arched.
Scapula broad, flattened, much widened at about one-third of its length from the hinder extremity; wing bones short, and weak; leg bones long, and strong; the fibula much developed.
| lines | |
|---|---|
| Length of sternum | 15 |
| Greatest breadth of sternum | 9½ |
| Breadth at the narrowest part | 7 |
| Width of external fissure | 1½ |
| Depth of ditto | 6 |
| Width of internal ditto | 1¼ |
| Depth of ditto | 6½ |
| Depth of keel | 3 |
| Length from occiput to point of bill | 22¼ |
| Breadth of cranium | 10½ |
| Length of coracoids | 11 |
| Breadth of scapula in the broadest part | 2 |
| Cervical vertebræ | 12 |
| Dorsal ditto | 6 |
| Sacral, damaged. | |
| Caudal, damaged. |