118 Mr. P. C. Mitchell on the 



tibia near the insertion of the biceps. The ambiens muscle 

 is completely absent, and there is no trace of an ambiens 

 contributory to this muscle-complex. But there is present, 

 in a reduced coudition, a tendinous slip (fig. 16, c) from the 

 head of the fibula, a slip which in many birds unites with 

 the ambiens ligament before that passes into the muscle- 

 complex. I describe and figure this muscle because, although 

 it is similar in all the Kingfishers (except in Ceyx, where the 



Fijr. 10. 



3" "• 

 Leg-muscles of Dacelo giyantea. 

 F., femur; T., tibia; Fib., fibula; Bic, cut edge of biceps ; a, inter- 

 condylar head ; b, tibial head of flexor perforatus ; 2, 3, 4, tendons 

 to dibits II., III., IV. ; c, ligament from head of fibula. 



tendon to the index is absent), its varying conditions in 

 different Avian groups still require examination. At present 

 it seems to me probable that the head from the fibular region 

 demands consideration in connection with certain rudiments 

 which I described as ambiens rudiments (10), and that this, 

 as well as the presence of the tendinous slip from the head 

 of the fibula, tends to break down Garrod's sharp distinction 

 between homalogonatous and anoraalogonatous birds. 



Flexor longus hallucis and flexor profundus, — The origin of 

 these and their relation in the knee-capsule conform to the 

 normal Avian type. The plantar tendons, however, show 



