HERODIONES 



433 



Family Balsenicepidse. The great ' whale head ' of Africa, 

 Balceniceps rex, requires further study before its exact 

 position can be determined. It is admittedly a member of 

 the present group, though its original describer, GOULD, 

 regarded it as a pelican. 1 We know the skeleton through the 

 labours of PABKEE, 2 while our at present scanty know- 



FIG. 203. SYRINX OF BaLcniccps. 

 FRONT VIEW. (AFTER BEDDARD.) 



/>, free margin of bronchidesruus. 



FIG. 204. THE SAME. BACK VIEW. 

 (AFTER BEDDARD.) 



ledge of the soft parts is due to myself. 3 Its powder-down 

 patches were discovered by BABTLETT/ As in the herons 

 also the right lobe of the liver is the largest, and the caecum 

 is single. The syrinx (see figs. 203-205) is ardeine inform, but 

 lacks the intrinsic muscles. These, however, are not en- 



1 Not a serious mistake in view of the admitted relationships between the 

 Steganopodes and Herodiones. 



- ' On the Osteology of Balceniceps rex,'' Trans. Zool. Soc. iv. p. 209 

 (abstr. in P. Z. S. 1860, p. 324). 



3 ' On certain Points in the Visceral Anatomy of Balceniceps bearing upon 

 its Affinities,' P. Z. S. 1888, p. 284. 



4 ' On the Affinities of Balceniceps ,' ibid. 1861, p. 131. See also BEIN- 

 HAEDT, ' On the Affinities of Balceniceps,'' ibid. 1860, p. 377, and GIEBEL, ' Ueber 

 Balceniceps rex,' Zeitschr.f. d. yes. Nat. Ixi. 1873, p. 3-30. 



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