234 EURYLAIMUS. 



not protect the nostrils, whose situation and form is 

 various in the subordinate types. The feet cannot 

 be termed small or delicate, yet they are obviously 

 of a weak construction, and adapted only for seden- 

 tary habits ; their colour is always pale, and their 

 structure completely syndactyle; the hind toe is 

 proportionably very long, and equals the length of 

 the tarsus, which latter is often without any pos- 

 terior or lateral scales. Now there is no example 

 of a foot, so constructed, in all the other genera of 

 this family, except Megalophus, which, in like man- 

 ner, has a large portion of the tarsus equally naked ; 

 while the proportionate length of all the claws is 

 the same in both. Megalophus, in short, is the 

 connecting link between the Eurylaimince and the 

 M usclcapince ; and we may now proceed to con- 

 sider the former more in detail. 



That natural groups, of the same rank, are very 

 often vastly disproportionate in their extent, has 

 been frequently observed ; and upon another occa- 

 sion we have attempted to show, that such numerical 

 disproportion is absolutely essential to the harmony 

 and consistency of the creation*. Now the group 

 before us is another striking example of this ine- 

 quality. "Were it an imperfect circle, and were we 

 unacquainted with those forms which connect it on 

 both sides to other types, strong doubts might be 

 reasonably entertained if a group, containing so 

 few species, really represented a sub-family, and 

 deserved to be placed in the same rank with the 

 * Classification of Animals, p. 247. 



