206 Dr. J. Murie on the Upupidse. 



to say that economy in general, pterylosis, geographical dis- 

 tribution in part, and anatomy taken all in all, turn the scale 

 in favour of the Hornbills as the group bearing the closest 

 relation to the Hoopoes and Irrisors. Their palatal and 

 premaxillary condition &c. vary ; but withal this does not 

 detract from the proposition as above expressed, neither does 

 it militate against the notion that certain of the Bee-eaters 

 and Kingfishers throw off spurs of affiliation towards the 

 Upupidse. 



I have spoken of a gap, and I shall trespass on the readers 

 of ' The Ibis ' by suggesting what probably may fill it — the 

 missing link. The Cryptornis antiquus (Gervais), a fossil form 

 discovered in the gypsum near Paris (tertiary formation of 

 geologists), was originally referred by Laurillard* to the King- 

 fishers, species of Alcedo. M. Gervais t afterwards adjudged 

 to it Cuculine affinity, and designated it Centropus antiquus. 

 Alph. Milne-Edwards's J researches in the same field led to his 

 regarding it as more closely allied to the Hornbills, and there- 

 with adopting for it the generic title Cryptornis. The latter 

 author bases affinity chiefly on tarsal formation and proportion 

 of some of the wing- to leg-bones. The first four lines of the 

 accompanying Table are those of Milne-Edwards ; the suc- 

 ceeding three similar calculations are mine. 



Tarse. Tibia. Humerus. Cubitus. 



Cryptornis antiquus 100 168 184 198 



Centropus philippincnsis. 100 150 96 80 



Centropus affinis 100 148 96 82 



Tockus erythrorhynchics 100 174 1(54 200 



TJpupa epops 100 166 155 205 



Irrisor erythrorhynchics . 100 222 133 177 

 Wiinopomastus cyanome- 



las 100 150 125 156 



Acknowledging the justness of Milne-Edwards' s inference 

 from proportions of limb-segments, I, moreover, may remark 

 that the tarso-tibial relations of Upupa to Cryptornis are even 

 closer than that of Toccus, though the wing is a remove fur- 



* Diet. d'Hist. Nat, Atlas, Ois. fos. pi. 2. 

 t PalSont. franc, 2nd ed. p. 409, pi. 49, fig. 1. 

 X Oiseaux fossiles, vol. ii. p. 371. Atlas, pi. 175. 



