RALL1 



327 



is anchored to the humerus. The finfoot agrees with the 

 divers in the extensive origin of the posterior latissimus dorsi 

 from the front end of the ilium. The largely tendinous 

 origin of the rhomboidei appears to point in the same direc- 

 tion. As to the alimentary viscera, there are long caeca ; the 

 right lobe of the liver is the larger ; a gall bladder is stated 

 by GIEBEL to be present in Heliornis. I did not find one in 

 Podica, but the matter doubtless requires re-examination. 



FIG. 162. SYRINX OF Podica 

 xenccjalensis (AFTER BEDDAKD). 



FIG. 163. STERNUM OF Heliornis. 

 VENTRAL VIEW. (AFTER BEDDARD.) 



The syrinx is typically tracheo-bronchial, and in no way 

 remarkable. 



The osteology of the Heliornithidae is not very decisive as 

 to their affinities. In Podica there are seventeen cervical 

 vertebra, an advance upon the fifteen of the rails and an 

 approach to the twenty-one of Podiceps. Six ribs reach the 

 sternum in both genera of Heliornithidae. The sternum has 

 but one pair of notches, and in Podica, at any rate, the spina 

 externa is well developed. The skull is, on the whole, rail- 

 like, bearing, perhaps, a greater resemblance to Aramides 

 than to any other genus of rails. The clavicles, contrary to 

 what is met with in the rails, reach, and are firmly attached 

 to, the carina sterni. 



/.s (fig. 164) of the Heliornithidae is in some respects 



