Definition of "furculum" []

• The wishbone or merrythought of birds, formed by the united clavicles. (noun)

Wiktionary.org : Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License

• "They lack true eyes, do not possess wings and have, protruding from their abdomens, a "spring tail," called a furculum, (after the Latin word for fork) which is held in place by two tiny hooks."
• "The reason for this is that the natural neck, being carried between the clavicles forming the furculum or "merry-thought," is bent downward and forward between them when perching (see Fig. 22); hence the artificial neck must imitate nature so far as that, when inserted in the skin, it may be also bent forward and downward, and afterwards thrown back on the body in a natural position."
• "The furculum, pelvis, and bones of the tail are in their natural position."