168 MiscellaneoKfi. 



oil tlie other, to tlie Blenniida\ Some of the latter elongate 

 the basal pectoral bones considerably, and lead to the Batra- 

 chidfe on the one side, where the number of these bones is in- 

 creased, and on the other to the Pediculati, where the number 

 is diminished. To these groups the Anacanthini and Hetero- 

 somata are less allied. 



The third upper pharyngeal bone has already presented an 

 increase of mass and use in the firstordersof Physoclysti with 

 ventral fins. Among the Percomorphi the same increase 

 makes its appearance by little beginnings in some Scianidse. 

 It is quite noteworthy in most of the Carangidaj, a group 

 whose separation from the Scombridaj by Gilnther is supported 

 by this part of their organism. Through forms not now spe- 

 cified, approach to the Pharyngognathi is made. Here the 

 pharyngeals are modified into a mill-like structure, which is least 

 specialized in the Embiotocidic, and most so in the h5carida\ 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Osteologu of the Solitaire. 



To the Editors of the Anmils and Magazine of Natural Ifistorif. 



Gentlemen, — In a paper on the osteology of the Solitaire of Rodri- 

 guez, commuuicated by my brother, Mr. Edward Newton, and nij-- 

 self to the lloyal Society, and published in the ' Philosophical Trans- 

 actions ' for 1869, there occurs the following passage relating to the 

 remains of that bird which had previously come to the notice of 

 naturalists : — 



" In addition to these eighteen specimens, we are informed that in 

 1860 or 1861 a tibia, the shaft of a tarso-metatarsal, and some 

 fragments of the shaft of a femur, all of which belonged to the 

 Solitaire, were sent to Professor Owen by M. Eouton, of the Musenm 

 at Mauritius ; but the fate of these specimens is unknown to us." 



In a paper published a few days since in the 'Transactions of the 

 Zoological Society' (vol. vii. part 7. p. 519, note) Professor Owen 

 quotes the above-cited passage, and then, after printing a letter 

 from the late Mr, James Morris, accompanying the specimens to 

 which the information we had received referred, states what ihej 

 reaUy were, and continues as follows : — • 



" They were returned to the Museum at Port Louis, Mauritius. 

 The first and sole •evidence of Messrs. Newton's interest in these 

 fragments reached me with their memoir. Any previous inquiry 

 would have, at once and most readily, received the rej^ly given in 

 the present note." 



Professor Owen makes this statement in error. Some time before 

 our memoir was finished, and therefore before it reached him, my 



