Dr. J. Murie on the Genus Colius. 275 



One less caudal vertebrae, and the coalesced lumbo-sacrals 

 apparently in excess of Colius. The latter has advantage in 

 metacarpo-phalangeal length ; an external inferior condyloid tu- 

 bercle, and an osseous bridge betwixt the metacarpals ; in other 

 respects the wing-elements correspond. In leg-proportion of the 

 Colyto the Touracoit resembles the Parrots (as above stated), the 

 metatarsus being greatly in excess. Femoral trochanter and 

 cnemial ridge of tibia large and prominent. The other grooves 

 and articular surfaces agree ; but the set and anterior position 

 of the toes are most unlike — the Musophagidse having fourth 

 and first backwards; in Colius they are all forwards. 



The pelvis of the Turacoes has the fronts of the ilia united 

 into an arch, and the lumbo-dorsal muscles and tendons pass 

 beneath ; the iliac blades expand forwards (as in the Cuckoos) ; 

 and the proportion of the prseacetabular area is longer, the post- 

 acetabular area is narrower in proportion to length ; the ilio- 

 ischiac junction forms a prominent shelf; and there is great 

 depth of the ischium itself. In all these particulars, therefore, 

 the pelvis is dissimilar to that of the Coly. 



An outward resemblance in the skull of the two groups of 

 birds compared is not substantiated by the basal plan of the 

 maxillo-palatal segment and other particulars. Nearly, if not 

 all, of the Plantain-eaters have a development, and sometimes 

 a curious one, of the crotchet bone (infralachrymal). This 

 is absent in the Colies. The Musophagine spongy maxillo- 

 palatines meet in the middle line ; their palatal plates are less 

 wide apart, broader fore than aft, and throughout horizontal; 

 cut sharper off posteriorly, and inwardly have not the charac- 

 teristic valley of Colius. Their prsemaxillse possess a high cul- 

 men, in some of the genera forming quite a nodosity ; nasal 

 orifice small, round, and placed well forwards ; beak terminating 

 in a long deflected point, that of Colius being shorter, and the 

 nares very large. 



Both the tongue and the vocal apparatus of the Touracoes 

 disagree with those of the Coly ; and so even do the plumage 

 and coloration to a degree. 



The Rollers {Coracias), as Vieillot and Blanchard both sur- 



x3 



