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Show 1876.] DR. J. V. HAAST ON ZIPHIUS NOV^E-ZEALANDIiE. 473 they diminish again slightly. They are compressed as usual, and broader at the apex, which has a truncate form, as if they were cut off. The metapophysis on the anterior end of the arch is similar in form to that of the last thoracic vertebra, but a little larger in the first four vertebrae, its apex having moreover a still more truncated edge. . Beginning with the fifth vertebra this process gets gradually smaller, assuming at the same time a more rounded form. They all possess on their inferior surface a median keel, which is most pronounced on the 5th, 6th and 7th vertebrae, after which, getting shallower by degrees, it nearly runs out on the last. The lower transverse process is throughout of the same form and size, having a horizontal and a little forward direction. The caudal vertebra are 19 in number, of which the first 10 have chevron bones attached to them on the posterior border of the lower surface, thus forming as usual two distinct classes. The bodies of the caudal vertebra shorten from 7*51 inches to the tenth, which is only 3*78 inches long, although their height is the same. From the 1st to the 13th a broad shallow groove runs along their lower surface, after which they have a deep lateral excavation. The spines are also gradually reduced in height to the tenth, in which the same is only 1*50 inch high. They continue, however, to possess the same truncated apex, with a downward slope from front to back, getting at their starting-point from the arch gradually larger, that on the 4th caudal vertebra being here the largest of the whole series of vertebrae. The metapophyses also gradually diminish, and assume, instead of the former flattened form, now a stouter appearance with a more outward direction of the point. The same diminution in size is observable in the lower transverse process, which on the 8 th caudal vertebra forms only a very small ridge, but has entirely disappeared on the 9th. The 10th vertebra is very much laterally compressed; the 11th assumes a rounded form, which becomes more square in the 12th, after which the rest have a nearly quadrangular form to the last. The last caudal vertebrae, beginning with the 10th, have a well-excavated channel running along both sides of the vertebrae. I may here observe that the last chevron hone, as well as the 17th and 19th vertebrae, are missing. Bibs. There are nine ribs on each side, of which seven possess two articulating processes. The first, which is the shortest of the whole series, is also the broadest. It is thick and flattened throughout. It articulates by a distinct capitular process with the body of the seventh cervical vertebra, and above by an excavated articular surface with the transverse process of the first thoracic vertebra. From the second to the sixth, the ribs gradually lengthen, the sixth being the longest, after which they decrease again. The second has |
