OCR Text |
Show 1903.] OSTRICH FROM THE ISLAND OF SAMOS. 205 from the apex of the caput to the margin of the trochanter, and that of the trochlea in the direction of its greatest expansion. A close study of the bone, however, revealed some features in which the fossil differs from the recent Ostrich, on the supposition that the photograph is not distorted. In the fossil, the neck supporting the head of the femur is much stouter than in the recent species and is much less constricted. This is best seen in the form of the distal border of the collum. Although measurements may include an error of, say, yL, they give an idea of that feature, because the difference between the two species exceeds that error. The only measurable line is the plummet in the apex of the head to the linea aspera, dividing the rostral surface of the neck from that of the bone itself. Width of the neck = 1. Struthio camelus = i. ,, karatheodoris = | It seems to me that the groove in which the ligamentum teres is inser ted is shallower in the fossil than in Struthio camelus. It may be that the photograph gives a wrong impression, and I think it would be better not to regard this feature as a specific one. Text-fig. 3*2. a & b = Pelvis of Struthio karatheodoris. Ventral view. true sacral vertebrae, i., ii., & iii. = first three postsacral vertebra;. > nat. size. |