410 PHALiCROCORACID^. 



y. Ad. sk. W. Africa. Sir E. Sabine [P.], 



s, a'. Ad. sk. W. Africa. Governor Kendall 



[P.]. 

 b'. Ad. sk. Gold Coast. Shelley Coll. 



d-f. Ad. sk. Accra, May (J. Smith). Shelley Coll. 



f}'. Ad. sk. Madagascai-. Dr. R. Bowdler 



Sharpe [P.]. 

 h'. Ad. sk. Madagascar (i?e2). J. Wills). J. H. Gurney, Esq. 



[P.]. 

 I . c? iid. sk. Madagascar, May 23. Purchased. 



k'. Ad. sk. W. of Antananarivo, Madagascar, Eev. W. Deans 



July. Cowan [C.]. 



Sub-family II. PLOTIN^. 



Articulation of cervical vertebrse very peculiar, producing the 

 curious kink in the neck of the Darters which cannot be obliterated 

 without lacerating the surrounding muscles. The first eight 

 (including the atlas and axis), when placed in their proper relations 

 to one another, form a continuous curve with a strong concavity 

 forwards, the long eighth vertebra being nearly parallel with the 

 bill when held horizontally. 



The superficial temporal muscles meet behind the skuU along a 

 median fibrous raphe, which becomes ossified into a feebl3--developed 

 bony style in P. anhinga. 



Left carotid artery only present. 



Peculiar hairy covering of the pyloric portion of the gastric cavity 

 largely develoj^ed. 



Skin not in the least emphysematous. 



Body nearly uuiformly clothed with small, rather soft, contour- 

 feathers and very delicate down-feathers. Besides the lateral spaces 

 of the trunk, only a narrow inferior space is found : all other spaces 

 wanting. 



2. PLOTUS*. 



Type. 

 Anhinga, Brisson, 0/-«. vi. p. 476 (1760); Coues, Bull. 



Nutt. Orn. C. iii. p. 101 (1878) [derivation of name]. . P. anhinga. 



Plotus, Li7in. S. N. i. p. 218 (1766) P. anhinga. 



Plottus, Scoj). Introd. Hist. Nat. p. 474 (1777) P. anhinga. 



Bill slender, compressed, straight and very sharply pointed ; the 



* The following works refer to the anatomy and osteology, etc. of Plottis : — 

 Brandt, Mem. Acad. St. Petersb. (6) v. pt. 2, pp. 82, 99, 132, 178, pis. iv., v. 

 (1839) [osteology of P. avhhiga] ; Eyton, Osteol. Av. p. 218 (1867) ; Nitzsch, 

 Pteryl., Eugl. ed. p. 1.51 (18(i7) ; Donitz, Arch. f. Anat. u. Phys. 1873, p. 357 ; 

 Garrod, P. Z. S. 1876, pp. .335-34.3, pis. xxvi.-xxviii. [anatomy, P. anhinga] ; 

 Forbes, P. Z. S. 1877, p. 304 [bursa Fabrieii] ; Garrod, P. Z. S. 1878, pp. 679-681 

 [anatomy of P. riifi(s {levaUlanfi)] ; Mivart, Tr. Z. S. x. pt. vii. pp. 315-378, 

 pis. Iviii., Isi. flgs. 6-10 (1878) [axial skeleton] ; Forbes, Ibis, 1881, pp. 7, 23, 24 ; 

 Forbes, P. Z. S. 1882, pp. 208-212, flgs. 1, 2 [anatomy of P. melanogaster]; 

 Cazin, Ann. Sei. Nat,. (6) xviii. Art. 3, 1 p. (1884); Shufeldt, Ibis, 1894, 

 pp. 364-365, fig. 1 [fibula]. 



