A CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE 

 PTERYLOGRAPHY OF THE MEGAPODII. 



By W. p. PYCRAFT, A.L.S. 

 With Plate XLIX. 



I. Introductory. 



The Megapodes included iu Dr Arthur Willey's collection belong exclusively to 

 the genus Megapodius. It comprises a valuable series of embryos and one newly- 

 hatched nestling. To what species these belong it is not possible to say with certainty, 

 except iu the case of the newly-hatched chick, which is apparently M. eremita. 



It has not been thought necessary to describe any-thing other than the pterylo- 

 logical characters of the specimens forming the subject of this Report, these being 

 hitherto almost unknown. 



For the jjurposes of comparison, and for the sake of increasing the value of the 

 present paper, I have added a description — as complete as circumstances would allow — 

 of the pterylosis of the only adult preserved in spirit in our collection. This, being the 

 type of M. pritchardi, had to be examined so as not to inflict damage. Only the main 

 characters therefore of the adult pterylosis have been recorded ; from these, however, it 

 would appear that the differences between the adult and the embryo are but slight. 



In so far as the description of the areas of the tracts is concerned it will be 

 found that the adult of M. pritchardi, and the embryo (p. 487) are the same. 



Besides Dr Willey's embryos, the British Museum possesses one nearly ripe 

 Megacephalon maleu and a newlj'-hatched chick of Megapodius eremita, and these 

 have proved very helpful. 



It is to be hoped that iu course of time the pterylosis of all the Megapodes 

 will be described. The present claims to be the most complete yet publi.shed. 



II The Pterylosis of the Aoult {M. pritchardi). 



Pterylae : — 



Ft. capitis. This is a fairly evenly distributed tract, but the feathers of the 

 forehead, and sides of the head are very small and barely conceal the skin. The 

 inter-ramal area is not sharply defined. There are no eyelashes. 



