350 Unwersity of California Publications in Zoology (Vou. 13 
barbule evenly tapering for whole length, dorsal edge with complete 
and continuous series of flexules and dorsal cilia, ventral edge with 
rather short, slender, more or less appressed ventral cilia. More 
distal barbs have this structure for three-fourths of their length. 
b) Other Types 
The structure of the feathers in all species of Grus is probably 
very similar, and there is a similar freeing of the barbs of the 
terminal part of the scapular feathers in nearly all, if not all, of 
the species. 
In the Rallidae the structure of the feathers differs in some 
important details, approaching more closely to that of the Limicolae. 
In the remiges of Rallus obsoletus, the proximal and distal barbules 
are more numerous, being about 26 and 37 per millimeter respect- 
ively. The distal barbules (pl. 26, fig. 52a) have a relatively long 
base, about 0.25 mm. long by 0.035 mm. wide, becoming very nar- 
row proximal to the small, fingerlike ventral teeth, a condition 
exactly similar to that in the Limicolae. The pennulum is rather 
narrow except in the hooklet region, the hooklets 5 in number, and 
slender, and the cilia, both ventral and dorsal, very similar to those 
in the Limicolae (compare plate 26, figure 52a, with plate 28, figure 
57a.) The proximal barbules (pl. 26, fig. 526) have relatively 
small bases, about 0.5 mm. long by 0.04 mm. wide, with ventral 
teeth moderately developed, while the pennula are shorter than the 
bases, and flattened. On the outer vane the distal barbules show 
no especially interesting characters, but the proximal barbules 
(pl. 26, fig. 52c) on the distal half of the barb have pennula longer 
than the bases furnished with a highly developed series of ventral 
cilia, of which the more proximal ones are hooked. In this char- 
acter the rails differ from both the Limicolae and Gruidae. In 
Cresicus the ventral cilia of the proximal barbules of the outer vane 
are less hooked, while in Gallinula, although the pennulum is very 
long and is sharply bent with respect to the base, as in Rallus, the 
ventral cilia, except two or three basal ones, are not developed. 
In the body feathers of Rallus obsoletus (also of Cresicus, Gal- 
linula, and other species of Rallus) the structure of the feathers 
is strikingly peculiar, even at the very base of the barbs. As shown 
by plate 26, figures 52d, e, and f, the distal barbules, from base 
to tip of the barb, change from a form with three weak hooklets 
and rudimentary flexules and cilia, to a form with no differen- 
