14 Mr. W. P. Pycraft on the 



The Rhamphotheca was not denticulated. As to the 

 pterylography of this specimen I can say nothing, since, as 

 I have before stated, I have only its skin, and skins do not 

 afford trustworthy data. 



It is not advisable here to make any comparison of the two 

 genera just described with the remainder of the order, or 

 even with allied forms, since I think it is obvious that we 

 are not yet in possession of sufficient facts to make such a 

 comparison profitable. If care be taken to correct the 

 errors pointed out in Dr. Gadow's last book, the tables 

 he there gives will be found to contain all that we know at 

 present. 



The literature of this subject seems to be of the scantiest 

 character; only three authors can be quoted as containing 

 original statements ; all other writers apparently borrow 

 from these or from each other without, in some cases, 

 troubling to acknowledge the source of their information. 



A considerable portion of the statements of these authors 

 will now have to be much modified, even in some cases ex- 

 punged altogether. For brevity's sake I shall quote only such 

 portions of their descriptions as conflict with the fresh facts 

 brought to light in the present paper. 



The earliest writer is Nitzsch (1). He described and 

 figured the pterylography of Crypturus tataiipa, and 

 apparently supplemented his observations by an examination 

 of C tao, C. variegatus, and Rhynchotus rufescens. 

 He says: — ''This genus [Crypturus) has two remarkable 

 peculiarities. One of these occurs in the dorsal tract, and con- 

 sists in the presence of powder-down-feathers, which enclose 

 the dilatation of the hinder part and separate it both from the 

 spaces and from the lumbar tracts ( = pt. femoralis). These 

 powder-down-feathers form no true tracts, but are intruded 

 into the gaps of the contour- feathers, so that in Cryp- 

 turus we find true down in these places among the contour- 

 feathers, a peculiarity which occurs in no other Gallinaceous 

 bird.^' "The second peculiarity consists in the struc- 

 ture of the inferior tract ( = pt. ventralis), which is divided 

 very high up, almost at the throat .... the outer branch 



