202 Hr. M. Seebolim on the 



It is now fifteen years since this unique arrangement of 

 the deep plantar tendons in certain birds was recorded 

 (Garrod, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1875, p. 344), but there are suffi- 

 cient reasons to account for the small importance which was 

 attached to the discovery. Two years before Garrod pub- 

 lished his paper on the deep plantar tendons, he promulgated 

 a new classification of birds, founded chiefly on the muscles 

 of the thigh, the presence or absence of cseca, and the con- 

 dition of the oil-gland, whether nude or tufted. Amongst 

 the birds which possess the Coraciine arrangement of the 

 deep plantar tendons are some with caeca and a nude oil-gland, 

 some with no caeca and a tufted oil-gland, and others with no 

 cseca and a nude oil-gland. There is also one group with an 

 ambiens muscle, which none of the others possess. It is 

 therefore quite obvious that Garrod could not give to this 

 feature of the arrangement of the deep plantar tendons the 

 importance which I have ventured to attach to it, without 

 completely throwing overboard the main characters upon 

 which his new classification was based. 



It does not appear that either Garrod or Forbes ever ex- 

 amined the deep plantar tendons of the Humming-birds. 

 The Trochilidse and the Cypselidse constitute the Cypseli- 

 formes of Garrod, and the Macrochires of Nitzsch, and have 

 been regarded by most ornithologists as closely allied families. 

 Two important papers, however, have taken up a contrary 

 opinion (Shufeldt, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1885, p. 886, and Journ. 

 Linn. Soc, Zoology, 1889, p. 374), and in the latter the 

 author mentions the arrangement of the deep plantar ten- 

 dons. To verify the statement there made I have had the 

 feet of three Humming-birds dissected by three independent 

 experts, and in every case it has been found that the deep 

 plantar tendons are not Coraciine, but very closely resemble 

 those of the Eurylsemi. 



I propose therefore to remove the Trochili from the com- 

 panionship of the Cypselidse and place them as a suborder of 

 the Pico-Passeres. 



If the Coraciiformes be regarded as one of the six sub- 

 classes into which the class Aves is divided (and the import- 



