150 



ON LEPTOSOMA DISCOLOR. 



of any thing more having been done to elucidate its structure till 1878. 

 In M. Grandidier's magnificent work on Madagascar*, in the plates of 

 the Atlas devoted to the birds, M. A. Milne-Edwards has figured the 

 entire skeleton, together with separate views of the bones, as well as the 

 tongue and alimentary canal, and has likewise given pictures of the bird 

 when plucked, showing the external nares, the position and shape of 

 the powder-down patches, and its naked oil-gland. In reply to my 

 inquiries on the subject, M. Milne-Edwards kindly replied that he 

 intended to describe in full the osteology of Leptosoma, together with that 

 of AtdorniS) Brachypteracias, &c., of which figures are given also in the 



Fig. 1. 



Eight foot of Leptosoma (nat. size), seen from before, to show the disposition of the 

 toes. (The fourth toe is slightly removed outwards, to better show its position.) 



above-named work, in the text, but that, as regards other points, only an 

 explanation of the plates was to be given. I have therefore thought it 

 would be of interest to bring before the Society some additional notes 

 on its pterylosis and soft parts, derived from my examination of Prof. 

 Newton's specimen. 



Before proceeding further, I should like to call attention to the struc- 

 ture of the feet in Leptosoma, which has already been accurately described 

 by Mr. Sclater (I. c. p. 688). They are in no way " zygodactyle," in the 

 sense in which that term is applied to the feet of such birds as the 



* Hist. Phys. Nat. et Pol. Madag., Zool., Ois. pis. 85-88. 



