See also:

• RATITAE (from Lat. ratis, a raft)

RATITAE (from See also:

• LAT

Lat. ratis, a raft)  , the name given by B . Merrem (Abh . Ak . Wiss., See also:

• BERLIN
• BERLIN, CONGRESS AND TREATY OF
• BERLIN, ISAIAH (1725–1799)

Berlin, 1812–1813; Phys . Kl., p . 259) to the " See also:

• FLAT (a modification of O. Eng. flet, an obsolete word of Teutonic origin, meaning the ground beneath the feet)

flat-breasted birds," in opposition to the Carinatae, or those which normally possess a keeled sternum . In thus dividing the birds into two See also:

• GREAT

great See also:

• EQUIVALENT

equivalent See also:

• GROUPS
• GROUPS, THEORY

groups, he was followed only by C . L . See also:

• NITZSCH, GREGOR WILHELM (179x-1861)
• NITZSCH, KARL IMMANUEL (1787-1868)

Nitzsch (1829), T . H . See also:

• HUXLEY, THOMAS HENRY (1825–1895)

Huxley (1867), P . L .

Sclater (188o), A . See also:

• NEWTON
• NEWTON, ALFRED (1829–1907)
• NEWTON, JOHN (1725-1807)
• NEWTON, JOHN (1823-1895)
• NEWTON, SIR CHARLES THOMAS (1816-1894)
• NEWTON, SIR ISAAC (1642-1727)

Newton (1884), R . B . See also:

• SHARPE, DANIEL (18o6-1856)

Sharpe (1891), whilst in most of the other numerous classifications the See also:

• RATITAE (from Lat. ratis, a raft)

Ratitae (vicariously named Struthiones, Cursores, Brevipennes, Proceres) were treated as of much See also:

• LOWER

lower See also:

• RANK (O.Fr. rant or rent, mod. rang, generally connected with the O.E. and O.H.G. bring, a ring)

rank . A diagnosis covering all the Ratitae (struthio, See also:

• RHEA

rhea, casuarius, dromaeus, apteryx and the allied fossils dinornis and aepyornis) would be as follows—(i) terrestrial birds without See also:

• KEEL

keel to the sternum, absolutely flightless; (ii) quadrate See also:

• BONE (a word common in various forms to Teutonic languages, in many of which it is confined to the shank of the leg, as in the German Bein)
• BONE, HENRY (1755-1834)

bone with a single proximal articulating knob; (iii) coracoid and scapula fused together and forming an open See also:

• ANGLE (from the Lat. angulus, a corner, a diminutive, of which the primitive form, angus, does not occur in Latin; cognate are the Lat. angere, to compress into a bend or to strangle, and the Gr. ayKOS, a bend; both connected with the Aryan root ank-, to

angle; (iv) normally without a pygostyle; (v) with an incisura ischiadica; (vi) rhamphotheca See also:

• COMPOUND
• COMPOUND (from Lat. componere, to combine or put together)

compound; (vii) without apteria or See also:

• HARE
• HARE, SIR JOHN (1844– )

hare spaces in the plumage; (viii) with a See also:

• COMPLETE

complete copulatory See also:

• ORGAN

organ, moved by skeletal muscles . The separation of the Ratitae from the other birds, and their seemingly fundamental See also:

• DIFFERENCES, CALCULUS OF (Theory of Finite Differences)

differences, notably the See also:

• ABSENCE (Lat. absentia)

absence of the keel and of the See also:

• POWER [WILLIAM GRATTAN] TYRONE (1797-1841)

power of See also:

• FLIGHT

flight, induced certain authors to go so far as to derive the Ratitae from the Dinosaurian See also:

• REPTILES (Lat. Reptilia, creeping things, from reptilis; ref ere, to creep; Gr. Ep7rety, whence the term " herpetology," for the science dealing with them)

reptiles, whilst See also:

• ARCHAEOPTERYX

Archaeopteryx (q.v.) and the Carinatae were supposed to have sprung from some Pterosaurian or similar reptilian stock . Such vagaries require no refutation . But it is quite another question, whether the " Ratitae " See also:

• FORM (Lat. forma)

form a natural See also:

• GROUP

group . See also:

• SIR

Sir R . See also:

• OWEN, JOHN (1616-1683)
• OWEN, JOHN [OVENUS Or AUDOENUS] (c. 1560-1622)
• OWEN, ROBERT (1771-1858)
• OWEN, SIR HUGH (1804-1881)
• OWEN, SIR RICHARD (1804–1892)

Owen was the first (Comp . Anat. and Physiol. of Vertebrates, ii . 1866) to indicate that the various Ratitae might be referable to various natural groups of the Carinatae .

A . W . See also:

• FORBES
• FORBES, ALEXANDER PENROSE (1817-1875)
• FORBES, ARCHIBALD (1838-1900)
• FORBES, DAVID (1828--1876)
• FORBES, DUNCAN
• FORBES, EDWARD (1815—1854)
• FORBES, JAMES DAVID (1809—1868)
• FORBES, SIR JOHN (1787—1861)

Forbes likewise had doubts about them . B . See also:

• LINDSAY

Lindsay (P . Z . S., 1885, pp . 684–716, pls . EL–1v.) found vestiges of a keel in a See also:

• YOUNG
• YOUNG, A
• YOUNG, ARTHUR (1741-1820)
• YOUNG, BRIGHAM (1801-1877)
• YOUNG, CHARLES MAYNE (1777–1856)
• YOUNG, EDWARD (1683–1765)
• YOUNG, JAMES (1811-1883)
• YOUNG, THOMAS (1773-1829)

young rhea, and apteria in the embryonic See also:

• OSTRICH

ostrich, and she concluded that they were descendants of birds which originally possessed the power of flight . This has been settled by M . Furbringer (Untersuchungen . . .

1888), and there is now no doubt that the absence of the power of flight is a secondary, not See also:

• PRIMITIVE

primitive, feature in the Ratitae as well as in the flightless See also:

• BONA (BONE)
• BONA, JOHN (1609-1674)

bona fide Carinatae, e.g . Didus, and penguins . It had already been understood that the various genera of the Ratitae were the representatives of so many different groups, each of which was at least equivalent to ordinal rank, and that therefore, if the Ratitae were still to. be considered a natural group, this See also:

• COMMON

common ancestry must be referred to a remote See also:

• GEOLOGICAL

geological See also:

• EPOCH (Gr. E7roxij, holding in suspense, a pause, from E1rxav, to hold up, to stop)

epoch . Furbringer, however, separated Apteryx with Dinornis from the See also:

• REST (O. Eng. rest, reste, bed, cognate with other Teutonic forms, e.g. Ger. Rast, Riiste, rest, and probably Gothic Rasta, league, i.e. resting or stopping place)

rest, combining his " Apteryges " with Crypturi and Galli as See also:

• ALECTORORNITHES

Alectorornithes, the latter being practically A . H . Garrod's Galliformes, of which his " Struthiones " form See also:

• PART

part together with the Tinamidae or Crypturi . Relationship of this other-See also:

• WISE, HENRY ALEXANDER (1806-1876)
• WISE, ISAAC MAYER (1819-1900)

wise typically carinate, neotropical See also:

• FAMILY

family with the Ratitae had already been insisted upon by T . H . Huxley; hence his See also:

• TERM

term Dromaeognathae for the Crypturi . L . Stejneger (See also:

• STANDARD
• STANDARD, BATTLE OF THE

Standard Nat . Hist., iv., See also:

• BOSTON
• BOSTON, THOMAS (1676-1732)

Boston, r885) applied this term in a new wider sense to all the Ratitae, and recently W .

P . Pycraft has revived this notion by his See also:

• DIVISION (from Lat. dividere, to break up into parts, separate)

division of the Neornithes into Dromaeo- and Neognathae . At any See also:

• RATE

rate we begin to see that some of the Ratitae, namely the Rheidae, may possibly be an See also:

• EARLY
• EARLY, JUBAL ANDERSON (1816-1894)

early and then much modified offshoot of such of the Carinatae as are now represented by the Crypturi, whilst in another part of the See also:

• WORLD

world, and at a much later See also:

• TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
• TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
• TIME, STANDARD

time, kiwis and moas have sprung from a somewhat more Galliform stock, which points to a descent from a still undivided Galliform-Tinamiform See also:

• MASS (O.E. maesse; Fr. messe; Ger. Messe; Ital. messa; from eccl. Lat. missa)
• MASS, IN

mass . Further, it is the See also:

• OPINION (Lat. opinio, from opinari, to think)

opinion of competent ornithologists that there is See also:

• AFFINITY (Lat. affinitas, relationship by marriage, from offinis, bordering on, related to; finis, border, boundary)
• AFFINITY, CHEMICAL

affinity of the Australian emeus and cassowaries with the New See also:

• ZEALAND (also SEALAND Or SEELAND; Danish Sjaelland)

Zealand moas and with the Malagasy Aepyornis . Struthio alone still stands aloof, possibly because it is the See also:

• OLDEST

oldest and most specialized form . This genus was already typically See also:

• DEVELOPED

developed in See also:

• LATE

late See also:

• MIOCENE

Miocene times, and with a very wide See also:

• GEOGRAPHICAL

geographical See also:

• DISTRIBUTION (Lat. distribuere, to deal out)

distribution (see See also:

• BIRD

BIRD, Fossil), but of the See also:

• AFFINITIES

affinities of the other See also:

• MID

mid- and early See also:

• TERTIARY

tertiary flightless birds we know nothing, and it must be emphasized that we should probably not be able to classify a truly ancestral Ratite, namely, a bird which is still to a certain extent carinate and not yet ratite . It is impossible to give a satisfactory diagnosis of such intermediate forms . All the See also:

• RECENT

recent Ratitae still possess a considerable number of rather primitive characters, e.g. they are typically nidifugous; the See also:

• SIMPLE

simple structure of their neossoptiles; quintocubital; compound rhamphotheca; holorhinal See also:

• NARES, SIR GEORGE STRONG (1831– )

nares imperviae; basipterygoid processes; simple articular facet of the quadrate; configuration of the palatal bones, including the large vomer; incisura ischiadica; simple hypotarsus; the thigh muscles; the copulatory organ . We restrict the origin of the Ratitae to that great See also:

• BRANCH (from the Fr. branche, late Lat. branca, an animal's paw)

branch of still primitive Carinatae which, after separation of the Ratitae, has further developed into the See also:

• LEGION (Lat. legio)

legion of the Alectoromorphae, notably Tinami- and Galliformes, together with still See also:

• LOW, SETH (1850- )
• LOW, WILL HICOK (1853- )

low Gruiformes (see BIRD, See also:

• CLASSIFICATION (Lat. classis, a class, probably from the root cal-, cla-, as in Gr. icaMce, clamor)

Classification) . From such a rudis indigestaque moles, after it had attained an almost world-wide distribution, have arisen the various Ratitae, independently at various epochs and in various countries . Most of them are now restricted to widely separated countries of the See also:

• SOUTHERN

southern hemisphere . Although loss of flight (correlated with more or less reduction of the wings and the sternal keel, and often compensated by stronger See also:

• HIND

hind limbs) has occurred, and is still taking See also:

• PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place in various groups of birds, it is quite impossible that a new Ratite can still come into existence, because the necessary primitive substratum, whence arose the true Ratitae, is no longer available .

Consequently we are justified in retaining " Ratitae " in our classification, although they are a heterogeneous, not strictly monophyletic, See also:

• ASSEMBLY, UNLAWFUL

assembly . (H . F .