Hl'LLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



The priiicipiil subdivisions of the Suborder Eleutherodactyli are as 

 follows: 



KEY TO THK Sl-PEUFAMI l>IES OF TIIK SUBORDER ELEUTHERODACTYLI.' 



(I. Syringeal imisclesi anisoinyodous.'^ {McKomiiodi •') Clamatores. 



cm. Syringeal luuscle? diacromyodous.'' (Acromyodi.^) 



I,. Syringeal muscles consisting of 2-3 pairs; propatagialis (tensor ])atagii 1)revis) 



muscle "picarian" Pseudoscines/' 



hb. Syringeal muscles consisting of 4-5 ])airs; proi)atHgialis (tensor patagii brevis) 

 nuiscle passerine Oscines. 



Of these superfaniilies the second (Pseudoscines) is represented only 

 in Australia. It is a \'ery limited group, consisting- of only two fam- 

 ilies, Menuridfe (lyre-birds) and Atrichornithida^ (scrub-birds), each 

 with only a single genus and ver}^ few species. The other two are 

 well represented in the Western Hemisphere, the Clamatores being 

 chierty American. Further consideration of the last-named group 

 must l)e deferred until after the Oscines have been disposed of. The 

 latter, containing as they do much the greater number of passerine 

 birds (approximate!}' 5,000 species and subspecies), and representing a 

 very uniform type of structure, offer by far the greatest difiiculties 

 to the systematist of any portion of the entire class of birds. The fol- 

 lowing arrangement of the so-called families is by no means supposed 

 by the author to be an entire!}^ satisfactory one, and none that can not 

 in some respect be criticised will be possible until the anatomy of a 

 far greater niunber of forms has been exhaustively in^■estigated and 

 the results carefully analyzed and tabulated. 



^Eleutherodactyli Forbes, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1880, 390, 391. 



-The syringeal muscles unequally inserted in the middle or upon only one end 

 (either the dorsal or ventral) of the bronchial semirings. 



■^ Mcxomifodi Ctarrod, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1876, 507. (Ecjuivalent to the 

 Anisomyodi or Anisomyodje of (tadow minus Eurylaimids?. ) 



^The syringeal muscles attached to both ends (the dorsal and ventral) of the 

 bronchial semirings, the two ends of the latter being thus equally connected. 



■'Arromijodi Garrod, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1876, 507; Forbes, Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 Lond., 1880, 391. — Passeres diacromyodi Gadow, Bronn's Thier-Reichs, ^^")g•> 'i' 1893, 

 301. — Passeres d iacromyodie Gauow, Classif. Vertebr., 1898, 38. 



^Pseudoscines Sclater, Ibis, 1880, 345. — Fuerbringer, Unters. Morph. Syst. Vog., ii, 

 1888, 1556. — Aci-omyodi abnormales Forbes, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1880, 391; Newton, 

 Enc. Brit., xviii, 1884, -H.—Menuroidea; Stejxeger, Stand. Nat. Hist., iv, 1885, 460. — 

 Passeres suboscines Gadow, Bronn's Their-Reichs, Vog., ii, 1893, 277. — Snboscines 

 Gadow, Bronn's Their-Reichs, Yog., ii, 1893, 801; Clnssif. Vertebr., 1898, 38. 



