| OCR Text |
Show 1894.] IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 115 imperceptibly into the posterior face of the shaft. Into the popliteal fossa several pneumatic foramina open, the largest measuring 7 by 5 m m . The condyles, which are very massive, are broken away in front; the outer projects considerably below the inner. Their lateral surfaces are concave and rough. The intercondylar fossa is scarcely perceptible and the surface for the fibula is narrow. Fig. 2. a. Left femur of Mpyornis titan (?), from behind. b. „ „ Mpyornis (?), from behind. Both ^ nat. size. In some of the broken femora referred to AS. titan the internal structure can be well seen. The wall of the bone is very compact and hard, and in the middle of the shaft it is 7 m m . thick. The central cavity is very small, the bone being almost entirely filled with a complex bony reticulum, the meshes of which are for the most part more or less rectangular. If w e compare this structure with that found in Struthio and Dinornis, w e find in each case great variations, but of a different kind. 8* |
