No. 2. ] APHRIZA VIRGATA. 337 
species as Acéztis macularia and R. solitarius, and in the other 
forms it is of a markedly pluvialine stripe throughout. 
As to the appendicular skeleton, a marvellous sameness of 
style—barring the question of mere difference in size—seems 
to pertain to the skeleton of the limbs in Surf-birds, Turnstones, 
Sandpipers, Plovers, and others. Hematopus, as we saw, pos- 
sesses a claw upon its pollex phalanx, while some of the species 
possess but three toes, as in the last-named genus and in Hzman- 
zopus and others. 
To sum up, then: my comparative studies of the osteology 
of Aphriza virgata lead me to believe that in the first place 
its affinity with H@matopus is by no means a close one, the 
Oyster-catchers forming a very well-marked and distinct family 
of limicoline birds by themselves, showing by the structure of 
certain parts of their skeletons strong larine derivation. 
Secondly, the skull in Avexarza is in some respects more upon 
the plan of the skull in H@matopus than it in any way ap- 
proaches the structure of that part of the skeleton in Aphriza ; 
indeed, so far as the skulls are concerned, the skulls in Chara- 
adrius, Arenaria, and Aphriza might be represented as each 
occupying the angle of an equilateral triangle, each sharing cer- 
tain characters in common and each removed from the other, 
equally distant by an equal set of others, not possessed by 
either of the other species. Were the skulls of Hematopus and 
an average 7vinga introduced into this hypothetical figure, the 
skull of the Oyster-catcher would be, as far as the characters 
they hold in common are concerned and for no other reason, 
on the line joining the skulls of the Turnstone and Surf-bird, 
and considerably nearer the first species than the last. The 
Sandpiper’s skull would be on the line joining the skulls of 
Aphriza and the pluvialine type, and considerably nearer the 
former species than the latter. Aside from the skull, the re- 
mainder of the skeleton of Avexarza would answer fully for the 
skeleton of an equal-sized Plover, but hardly so for A. vzrgata. 
To conclude: the sum total of the skeletal characters of 
Aphriza virgata place this species nearer the 7ringe@—say some 
typical large-sized 77zmga, with a four-notched sternum — than it 
does to the Plovers; less so to Avenaria, and far less so to 
Hematopus. Some pluvialine forms, however, are not so dis- 
