6 



SulDorder IV. ^GITHOGNATH^. 

 Group 1. Cypselomorphae. 

 Family 1. TBOCHiLiDiE. 



2. Cypselid^. 



3. Capremulgid^. 



Group 2. Coracomorphse (=Passebes). 



Though agreeing with Professor Newton that SundevalFs ' Classifi- 

 cation^^ which appeared in 1872^ was not quite what one would have 

 expected from a zoologist of his great experience^ at the same time 

 workers must feel grateful to any one who helps with diagnoses of Families 

 &c. of Birds. If Sundevall's effort cannot be compared in importance 

 with the work of Huxley, its many suggestions, if they did not lead to 

 any immediate adoption of the author's views, were still useful in 

 promoting discussion and study, and therefore the ' Tentamen ' acted 

 as a stimulus for further investigation. In the ' Encyclopaedia ' 

 Professor Newton has given an elaborate summary of SundevalFs 

 results, which can there be consulted, and an English translation by 

 Mr. F. Nicholson has recently been published. 



Much was done by Professor Huxley^s successors in the same field. 

 Professor Garrod and Mr. Forbes, chiefly in the direction of the 

 classification of the " Passeres,^' and the former specially directed his 

 attention to the value of certain less-known points in the anatomy and 

 osteology of the whole class. The work done by these young inves- 

 tigators was progressive, and, but for their untimely deaths, there is no 

 doubt that their subsequent labours would have been productive of 

 great results, and would have anticipated much of the classification 

 which has been proposed since. As it was, the arrangement of the 

 Class " Aves '' as set forward by Garrod and Forbes was for the most 

 part tentative, the former especially being the more sanguine about the 

 value of his results, as those who had the privilege of listening to his 

 addresses were wont to recognize. The certainty that the natural 

 classification of Birds had been reached by a study of the carotid 

 arteries or the nature of the oil-gland was upset soon after by the 

 announcement that a more worthy character had been found in the 

 ambiens muscle or the deep plantar tendons. The enthusiasm with 

 which Garrod attacked his subject is fresh in the memory of all of 

 us, and there is no difficulty in imagining what discoveries he would 

 have made had death not claimed him as an early victim. To myself 

 his decease was nothing less than a disaster ; for he had promised his 

 assistance in the classification of the British Museum ' Catalogue,' 

 and only just before his death he furnished me with his characters 

 for the Order '' Passeres " as they appear in the third volume of that 



