in the Order Strepitores. 



601 



removed from the touracos as any other song-bird :* and I 

 respectfully invite Sir E. Bromhead, or any other systematist, 

 to point out a single structural accordancy, either internal or 

 external, — to name any definite character whatever, that can 

 justify him even in approximating the families in question, 

 much less in attempting to unite them as he has done. 



I will only further trespass on the reader's attention on the 

 present occasion, to direct it, once more, to an important fact 

 sufficiently at variance with the doctrines of the quinarians, 

 namely, the utter absence of any approach or tendency even 

 to a passage or transition occurring from one to another of any 

 of the eight family groups which together compose my Stre- 

 pitores Syndactyli. To save trouble in reference, I subjoin 

 a tabular view of the series of them. 



En 

 5Q 



Buceroides 



Halcyoides 



Appendirostres 

 Arculirostres 



Cylindriros tres 



Angulirostres 

 ^Serratirostres 



Buceridee, 



Upupida, 



Meropida, 



CoracidcB, 



Halcyonidce, 



Todidce, 



Galbulidce, 



Prionitida, 



Hornbills. 



Hoopoes. 



Bee-eaters. 



Rollers. 



Kingfishers. 



Todies. 



Jacamars. 



Motmots. 



Next follow the toucans {Rhamphastidw), which commence 

 the Zygodactyly 



September 30th, 1838. 



Art. V.— Notes on the Natural History of the Ant-Lion, (Myrme- 



leon formicarium, Linn.) By J. O. Westwood, Esq., F.L.S. 

 During a pleasant entomological excursion to the Pare de 

 Belle Vue, near Paris, in the month of July, 1837, my atten- 

 tion was directed, by my friend Audouin, to many of the cells 

 of the ant-lion, at the foot of a very high sand-bank, and where 

 the sand was exceedingly fine. These holes were of various 

 sizes, but none exceeded an inch and a half or two inches in 

 diameter, and two thirds of an inch deep. The ant-lions were 

 of various sizes, corresponding with the size of their retreats. 



* It agrees in this respect, loosely, with the touracos, that the intestinal 

 canal is remarkably short and wide; but there is no similitude in the struc- 

 ture of the parts. 



