CONOPOPHAGIDiE. 329 



Family III. CONOPOPHAGIDiE. 



The peculiar form Conopopliarjci, having been shown bj' Johannes 

 Miiller to be Tracheophonine, has been usually placed with the For- 

 micariidce, but sometimes with the TyraanidcB, with which it agrees 

 in the structure of its " exaspidean '* tarsus. Garrod first proposed 

 (P. Z. S. 1877, p. 452) to make it the type of a new family, but 

 without stating any definite reasons. These, however, were fully 

 explained by Forbes in 1881, who, prompted by Mr. Salvin, showed 

 that ConojW^Jiaga is further distinguished from both the two above- 



Sternum of Conopo^haga lineata. (P. Z. S. 1881, p. 436.) 



mentioned families by having four notches in the posterior margin of 

 the sternum *. This peculiarity, when taken in conjunction with 

 its tarsal seutcllation and the form of its syrinx, renders it necessary 

 to regard Cono'po]jha(ja and its allied form Cori/tJiojns as constituting 

 one of the four primary divisions of the Tracheophonine Passeres, 

 which, in the accurate words of Forbes (P. Z. S. 1881, p. 438), 

 may be defined as follows : — 



Conopophagidce. Tracheojjhonine Passeres with a holorhinal skull 

 and four-notched sternum, an exaspidean tarsus, and a syrinx with 

 no intrinsic muscles, and with the stcrno-irachecdes not attached to 

 the proci'ssiis vocales. 



The Conophagida3 number some eleven species, which are met 

 with only in South America, from Colombia to S.E. Brazil and 

 Bolivia. 



Key to the Genera. 



A. Bill wider, stronger ; tail shorter ; tarsi 



thicker ; hind claw thiclier, more 



curved 1. Conopophaga, p. 330. 



B. Bill longer, more compressed ; tail 



longer ; tarsi thinner ; hind claw 



slenderer, less curved 2. Cohythopis, p. 335. 



» Cf. Forbes, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 435. 



