Thread: Strange struct syntax; type name:number

Bowsing the source for glibc-2.4 I found this strange stuff in ieee754.h:

Code:

union ieee754_float
  {
    float f;

    /* This is the IEEE 754 single-precision format.  */
    struct
      {
#if	__BYTE_ORDER == __BIG_ENDIAN
	unsigned int negative:1;
	unsigned int exponent:8;
	unsigned int mantissa:23;
#endif				/* Big endian.  */
#if	__BYTE_ORDER == __LITTLE_ENDIAN
	unsigned int mantissa:23;
	unsigned int exponent:8;
	unsigned int negative:1;
#endif				/* Little endian.  */
      } ieee;

    /* This format makes it easier to see if a NaN is a signalling NaN.  */
    struct
      {
#if	__BYTE_ORDER == __BIG_ENDIAN
	unsigned int negative:1;
	unsigned int exponent:8;
	unsigned int quiet_nan:1;
	unsigned int mantissa:22;
#endif				/* Big endian.  */
#if	__BYTE_ORDER == __LITTLE_ENDIAN
	unsigned int mantissa:22;
	unsigned int quiet_nan:1;
	unsigned int exponent:8;
	unsigned int negative:1;
#endif				/* Little endian.  */
      } ieee_nan;
  };

What is this :number thing? Can't find much information about it. Some kind of initializer?