354 Unwersity cf California Publications in Zoology  |Vou. 18 
with the herons instead of with the cranes. Cariama is undoubtedly 
nearer to Hurypyga than to any other forms. 
In general it seems best to consider the Gruidae, Aramidae, and 
Rallidae as offshots from a primitive stem leading to the Laro- 
limicolae, while the Otididae, Psophiidae, and possibly the Ara- 
midae, are more probably early offshots from the stem leading to 
the Columbae and Galli. The Eurypygidae, and possibly the Caria- 
midae, are almost certainly of ardeid derivation. 
e) Summary 
(1) Distribution of plumules variable, uniformly distributed, 
or sparse all over, confined to apteria in Ofis. 
(2) Aftershaft present, rudimentary, or absent. 
(3) Distal barbules in different forms showing affinities to the 
Laro-limicolae, Galli and Ardeae; proximal barbules with incon- 
spicuous teeth, pennulum very different in different forms, some- 
times with cilia in outer vane, sometimes without. 
(4) Breast feathers in Gruidae, Aramidae, and Rallidae with 
flexules on barbules, but of galline type in Psophiidae and Otididae, 
and ardeid in Hurypygidae and Cariamidae. 
(5) Down barbules medium or long, smoothly filamentous, or 
with inconspicuous prongs at the nodes, or pigmented, with the 
nodes slightly enlarged. 
10. Order CHARADRIIFORMES 
Plates 28-29 
Including a very large assemblage of birds which in general 
appearance seem to have little or nothing in common, the Chara- 
driiformes are nevertheless joined together into a more or less 
natural group by numerous more or less intermediate species which 
bridge over the gaps separating the more widely divergent forms. 
It is divisible into two main suborders, the Laro-limicolae and 
Pteroclo-columbae, which will be separately treated. 
Suborder LARO-LIMICOLAE 
Plate 28 
This suborder includes three groups of birds, the Limicolae, the 
Lari, and the Alcae, including the plovers and their allies, the gull- 
like birds, and the auks and murres respectively. They are all 
characterized by the uniform, though often sparse (especially in the 
