224 BULLETIN 5 0, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



World, ii, 1934, 212,— Bond, Birds West Indies, 1936, 95 (Hispaniola, 

 Puerto Rico, Culebra, St. Croix, St. Jolin, Anguilla, St. Barts?, St. Kitts, 

 Montserrat, Barbuda, Antigua, Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Lucia?, St. 

 Vincent?, Barbados?, the Grenadines and Grenada, apparently no definite 

 records for Cuba, Jamaica, and Bahamas) ; Auk, Ivi, 1939, 194 (Montserrat, 

 Dec. 31, 1929; specimen). 

 Fulica caribaea major Danforth, Auk, xlii, 1925, 561 (Cartagena Lagoon, 

 Puerto Rico) ; Joum. Dept. Agr. Puerto Rico, x, 1926, 62-65, figs. 30-31 

 (Cartagena Lagoon; habits). 



Suborcier Heliornithes : Finf oots or Sun-grebes 



=Heliornithoide?e Stejneger, Stand. Nat. Hist., iv, 1SS5, 68, in text. 

 >Fulicari8e FtJRBRiNGEK, Unters. Morph. Syst. Vog., 1888, 1235 (includes 



Ralli). 

 >Geranomorph8e Sclateb and Salvin, Nom. Av. Neotr., 1873, viii, 139 (includes 



Ralli and Aramidfe). — Salvin and Godman, Biol. Centr.-Amer., Aves, iii, 



1903, 314 (includes Ralli and Grues). 

 XRalliformes Sharpe, Rev. Rec. Att. Classif. Birds, 1891, 70 (Ralli+'Todicse," 



that is, Podicid8e=Heliomithid8ee, part). — Shufeldt, Anat. Rec, ix, 1915, 



606 ( Ralli + Heliornithes +Aramid89 ) . 

 >Ralliformes Shu-feldt, Anat. Rec, is, 1915, 606 (Ralli+Heliornithes+Ara- 



midne). 

 >Ralloideie Shufeldt, Anat. Rec, ix, 1915, 606 (RalIi+Helioruithes+ 



Aramidae). 

 <Heliornithiformes Sharpe, Rev. Rec Att. Classif. Birds, 1891, 70 (excludes 



Heliornithidse, part, that is, genus Podica). 

 <Heliornithes Sharpe, Rev. Rec. Att. Classif. Birds, 1891, 70 (excludes Heli- 



ornithidse, part). 

 =Heliornithoidea Shxjfeldt, Anat. Rec, ix, 1915, 606, 750 (superfamily of sub- 

 order Fuliearise, supersuborder Ralliformes). 

 =Heliornithes Wetmore and Miller, Auk, xliii, 1926, 343. — Wetmore, Proc 



U. S. Nat. Mus., Ixxvi, art. 24, 1930, 4; Smiths. Misc Coll., Ixxxix, No. 



13, 1934, 6; xcix, No. 7, 1940, 6.— Peters, Check-list Birds of World, ii, 



1934, 213. 



Small or medium-sized aquatic Gruiformes with raillike bill; con- 

 spicuously lobed or scalloped and partially webbed toes ; deep plantar 

 tendons of types II or X; accessory semitendinosus muscle absent; 

 mostly to completely feathered tibia; neck rather long, and slender 

 through shortness of the soft feathering, and tail much more than 

 half as long as wing, much rounded, with 18 or more rigid rectrices. 



Palate schizognathous ; nares schizorhinal, pervious; basipterygoid 

 processes, occipital foramina, and temporal fossae absent; cervical 

 vertebrae, 15-17; dorsal vertebrae heterocoelous ; complete ribs (reach- 

 ing sternum) 6; sternum elongated, its keel low, the metasternum 

 2-notched ; spina externa well-developed (at least in Podica) ; epi- 

 sternal process not perforated to receive feet of coracoids; clavicles 

 with anterior and posterior interclavicular processes, the latter firmly 

 attached to keel of sternum ; ischia broader and directed more down- 

 ward than in the Kalli, the pubes ankylosed, at least at one point, with 



