Anatomy of the Kingfishers. 113 



therefore evidence that in the Kingfishers this muscle tends 

 to cliange from the more usual condition in birds, increasing 

 in breadth and strength at the expense of the glutseus 

 maxiinus. The contrast is most apparent when taken between 

 the diastataxic and eutaxic Ceryles, but it also occurs between 

 eutaxic Alcedines and the diastataxic forms. 



Ilio-tibialis sen glutceus maximus. — The researches of 

 Garrod would seem to imply that the generalized Avian 

 condition of this muscle is broad and strong, its origin from 

 the ilium or dorsal middle line extending behind and in front 

 of the acetabulum. In Dacelo alone I have found a trace, 

 in the form of fasciae, of the postacetabular portion. In 

 Dacelo, Ceryle maxima, C. alcyon, and the species of Sauro- 

 patis — that is to say, in all the diastataxic forms — the pre- 

 acetabular portion of this muscle is well developed. Among 

 the eutaxic forms Cittura sanghirensis alone has retained 

 this condition ; in Cittura cyanotis, Halcyon 7'ufa, and Ceyx 

 riifidorsa the muscular belly is very narrow and weak ; in 

 Halcyon pileata, Ceryle americana and C. inda, and in the 

 Alcedines the reduction is carried so far that the muscle is 

 represented by a band of fasciae with only a few muscular 

 fibres near the proximal end. 



Ilio-trochanterici sen glutai. — In Dacelo all three are 

 distinct and separate : the posterior (secundus) is very large, 

 and arises from all the preacetabular ilium ; its insertion, 

 partly fleshy, partly tendinous, is to the femur, proximad of 

 the insertions of the others. The anterior {tertius) is the 

 next in size and the most distal. The medius (quartus) is 

 the smallest, and lies under the posterior and between it and 

 the anterior. In all the other Kingfishers the condition of 

 these muscles was similar except that in Halcyon pileata the 

 medius was reduced to the merest vestige. 



Ilio-femoralis externus {glulaeus anterior) was absent in all. 



Femori-tihiales {crurceus \)\w.% vastus and vastus internus). — 

 The internus in all has the normal arrangement ; the vastus 

 and cruraus are also normal, but in the species of Ceryle 

 there is also an insertion to the lower part of the femur, an 

 arrangement not uncommon in birds. 



8ER. VIII. VOL. I. I 



