Vol. XIX 



I Shufeldt, Material for a Study of the Megapodiidce. 13 



sertion, which has led M. A. Milne-Edwards to describe the 

 muscle in the common Fowl as a part of the coraco-hrachialis 

 (brevis) in his superb work on fossil birds. In the Megapodiidce 

 also the attachment to the coraco-brachialis brevis is wanting, 

 the tendon ending either by blending with the teres-mairgin or 

 running on to tlie scapula " (loc. cit., pp. 323, 324). 



Continuing his investigations, he discovered that " the biceps 

 humeri muscle sends a peculiarly large fasciculus to the tendon 

 of the tensor patagii longus, which reaches it opposite the middle 

 of the patagium. This slip I never find developed in the Cracidce, 

 but it is present in the closely-alhed Megapodidce, and in all other 

 Gallinaceous birds " {loc. cit., p. 468). Garrod also gave us a 

 paper. " On the Anatomy of the Maleo {Megacephalon maleo)," 

 which is illustrated by two views of the lower larynx of the bird. 

 In the contribution we find the pterylosis given, the visceral 

 anatomy, something on the myology, and the morphology of the 

 air-passages {P.Z.S.r 1878, pp. 629-631 ; also in " Coll. Sci. 

 Papers," pp. 452, 453). 



In the course of his discussion of the taxonomy of birds he was 

 led to say that " the Megapodidce, together with the Cracidce, as 

 Professor Huxley has so clearly shown {P.Z.S., 1868, p. 298), 

 form a well-established sub-order of the Gallina?, and osteo- 

 logically it is not easy to separate them ; but in the Cracidce both 

 carotids are present, whilst in the Megapodidce the left only is 

 found " {loc. cit., p. 177). 



At the close of the present paper I shall add an entire section to 

 the study of the eggs of the Megapodes, and in other places in the 

 following pages give a few notes on their breeding habits. In 

 the " Dictionary of Birds " Newton has pointed out that " the 

 extraordinary habit possessed by the ]\Iegapodes generally of 

 relieving themselves of the duty of incubation, as before mentioned 

 — a habit which originally attracted the attention of travellers, 

 whose stories were on that very account discredited — as well as 

 the highly-developed condition of the young at birth, has been so 

 fully described, and so often repeated by other writers, as to be 

 very commonly known, and here there seems no necessity to enter 

 into further details concerning it.* 



One of the most important and at the same time most inter- 

 esting papers that has been contributed to the study of these 

 birds is by J. J. Lister, F.R.S., &c., some three or four years ago.f 



* Newton, Alfred, loc. cit., pp. 542, 543. See also Gould, " Handb. B. 

 Austral.," ii., pp. 152-175 ; G. R. Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1861, pp. 

 292-296; Wallace, "Malay Archipelago," i., pp. 415-419, ii., pp. 147-149; 

 Guillemaud, " Cruise of the Marchcsa," ii., pp. 193-197, with figure ; 

 Hickson, " Naturalist in North Celebes," pp. 94, 95. 



f Lister, J. J., " The Distribution of the Avian Genus Megapodius in the 

 Pacific Islands," Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 191 1, pp. 749-759. Illustrated 

 by map of East Indies, upon which the distribution of the species is plotted 

 (P- 750)- iliis is a very thorough study of the Megapodes with respect to 

 species, distribution, (light, nesting and other habits, &c., and should be 

 read by anyone studying the group. 



