586 Letters, Extracts, Notices, &;c. 



at a height of 2000 feet up the Barisan mountains by 

 Dr. Hagen, and one of the specimens is now before me. 

 Besides Malacca, the species occurs in Borneo (P. Z. S. 

 1882, p. 688, and J. f. O. 1884, p. 216). 



I am, 



Yours &c., 



A. B. Meyer. 



Dresden, August 8th; 1896. 



Royal Zoolog'ical Museum. 



Sirs, — Mr. Chas. W. Andrews, in his paper on the '' Stere- 

 ornithes" in ^The Ibis,' January 1896, has shown: (1) that 

 there exists no relationship between Phororhacos and Gast- 

 ornis ; (2) that the Ratitse are in many respects more 

 primitive, and not improbably were already sharply separated 

 from the Carinatse when the Stereornithes arose; (3) that 

 some, at least, of the Stereornithes may form a specialized 

 offshoot of the stock which gave rise to the Neotropical 

 Gruiformes ; (4) that the Stereornithes seem to be a hetero- 

 geneous group. Since the publication of his paper the 

 National Museum has acquired a number of specitnens of 

 these curious bird-remains, and the ventral surface of the 

 skull of Phororhacos has been cleared of the stony matrix. 



Mr. Andrews has courteously examined and discussed 

 with me these specimens of Stereornithes, and we have con- 

 jointly come to the following conclusions : — 



The skull, pelvis, and coracoid of Phororhacos indicate no 

 relationship with the Ratitae proper, nor with Gastornis, but 

 point to affinities with the Gruiformes. Pelecyornis and 

 Lio7-nis are likely to stand near them. 



Dryornis seems to belong to the Falconiformes, while 

 Mesembriornis , so far as it is known, is perhaps a forerunner 

 of true Rheidse {cf. also Bronn's ' Thierreich,' Systemat. 

 Theil, pp. 106 and 107). 



Of Brontornis too little is known, and leg-bones alone 

 afford no sufficient evidence for distinguishing between 

 the Ratitse and the flightless Carinatse, such, for instance, as 

 Aptornis. The Santa-Cruz beds are no longer considered as 

 of Lower Eocene, or even Oligocene, but of Miocene date. 



