222 The Naturalist in La Plata. 
sematous—that 1s, bloated and yielding to pressure. 
It crackles when touched, and the surface, when 
the feathers are removed, presents a swollen bubbly 
appearance; for under the skin there is a layer of 
air-bubbles extending over the whole body and even 
down the legs under the horny tesselated skin to 
the toes, the legs thus having a somewhat massive 
appearance. 
And now just a few words about the position 
of the screamer in systematic zoology. It is placed 
in the Family Palamedeide, which contains only 
three species, but about the Order it belongs to 
there is much disagreement. It was formerly 
classed with the rails, and in popular books of 
Natural History still keeps its place with them. 
“* Now the rail-tribe,”’ says Professor Parker, speak- 
ing on this very matter, ‘‘ has for a long time been 
burdened (on paper) with a very false army list. 
Everything alive that has had the misfortune to be 
possessed of large unwieldy feet has been added to 
this feeble-minded cowardly group, until it has 
become a mixed multitude with discordant voices 
and with manners and customs having no consonance 
or relation.”’ He takes the screamer from the rail- 
tribe and classes it with the geese (as also does 
Professor Huxley), and concludes his study with 
these words :—‘‘ Amongst living birds there is not 
one possessing characters of higher interest, none 
that I am acquainted with come nearer, in some 
important points, to the lizard ; and there are parts 
of the organization which make it very probable 
that it is one of the nearest living relations of the 
marvellous Archwopteryx ’’—an intermediate form 
