352 ON THE ANATOMY OF THE TODIES. 



parts of the structure of the two forms, and in the absence of any 

 special features common to them, I cannot agree to the proposition 

 that the Todies are more closely related to the Motmots than to any 

 other group. 



In the possession of caeca and in the conformation of their pectoral 

 tract the Todies agree with all Garrod's " Passeriformes," with one of 

 the families of which indeed, the Galbulidse, one of the most acute 

 ornithologists that has ever lived, the late Mr. Blyth, associated them as 

 a special group, " Angulirostres " *. On the other hand, in possessing a 

 well- developed tuft to the oil-gland, the Todies differ altogether from 

 the Passeriform series of Anomalogonatse. Detailed comparison of the 

 structure of the Todies with that of the other families of this great 

 group is unnecessary, none of them possessing features indicating such 

 affinities to the former as to render probable any particular genetic 

 connexion of the two. 



As Dr. Murie has already remarked, " Todus is inconsistent in several 

 respects " t, a truth made more obvious by the facts above recorded. In 

 the possession of caeca combined with the tuft to the oil-gland, Todus 

 presents an exception to Garrod's definition of his group Anornalogonatse J, 

 though it agrees with all of them in the absence of both the ambiens and 

 accessory femoro-caudal muscles. Nevertheless it is certain, from its 

 characters generally, that Todus is an Anomalogonatous bird, though its 

 isolation from any other of the families of that group seems to me to 

 preclude its insertion in the Piciformes, Passeriformes, or Cypseliformes 

 of Garrod . It is impossible, I think, to say that Todus is more clearly 

 related to any of the Piciformes than it is to the Passeriformes ; and to 

 include it the definitions of either of those groups w r ould have to be 

 altered. I propose, therefore, to create a group of equivalent value to 

 those just named, which may be called " Todiformes," and of which 

 Todus is the sole living representative. 



Next, as to the meaning of these facts. I think few ornithologists 

 who have carefully considered the question can doubt that the " Ano- 

 malogonatae " of Garrod are a natural group of birds ||, i.e. one descended 

 from a common ancestor. On this view this ancestor must have pos- 

 sessed the sum of the characters supposing, unless there is reason for 

 the contrary, that the latter have not been ^-developed, and excluding 

 those that may reasonably be supposed to be adaptive, or more recently 



* Charlesworth's Mag. Nat. Hist. ii. 1838, p. 361. 

 t P. Z.S. 1872, p. 678. 

 J P. Z. S. 1874, p. 118 ; Coll. Papers, p. 216. 

 L. c. p. 222. 



II It is nearly certain that the Ouculidae and Musophagide, as also the Psittacidte, 

 are in no way related to the other so-called Picarise. 



