Page 514, 
362 ON THE ANATOMY OF PASSERINE BIRDS. 
presenting a greater gap than the one above it. This syrinx is figured 
in Plate [26] LIII. figs. 4, 5, and 6. 
Pitta is therefore mesomyodian, in which respect it differs from all 
the known Old-World Passeres—although Philepitta, with its lengthy 
first primary, is most probably the same in this respect.* 
With reference to other points in the anatomy of the genus, it 
may be mentioned that in both Pitta angolensis and P. cyanura there 
is but one carotid artery, the left. The oil-gland is nude. The colic 
ceca are between one eighth and one tenth of an inch in length; and 
the muscles of the thigh are similarly arranged to those of most 
Passeres, the myological formulat being A,X Y, the ambiens muscle 
being absent, at the same time that the flexor longus hallucis is quite 
independent of the flexor digitorum perforans. The palate is beauti- 
fully figured by Mr. Parker in his memoir on Aigithognathous birds ;f 
and I take this opportunity of giving a view of the back of the skull 
and of the sternum, which present features of interest. It will be 
noticed that the temporal fosse extend across the occipital region of 
the skull, and nearly meet in the middle line behind ; this condition, 
though frequently found in other families, is not one possessed by 
any Passerine birds except Pitta, as faras I am aware. Plate [26] 
LHI. fig. 8 shows the sternum of P. cyanura; in it the sternal 
notches are particularly deep. 
Menura superba is another bird in which our knowledge of the 
structure of the syrinx is very deficient. Mr. Eyton has described 
it ;§ but his account will bear supplementing. He tells us that “in 
addition to the usual sterno-tracheal muscles this curious bird has two 
other pair, both of which have their origin on the rings of the trachea 
on each side, at the point where it enters the cavity of the thorax. 
The anterior pair is inserted on the knobs at the extremities of the 
fourth bones of the bronchie; the posterior pair are also inserted on 
the bronchiw, but on the three uppermost rings and on the posterior 
extremity of the fifth.” 
Several opportunities have occurred to me (partly through the 
kindness of Professor Flower in allowing me to dissect a specimen 
beautifully preserved in the Royal College of Surgeons, partly 
through the assistance of Mr. Edward Gerrard, and partly from my 
prosectorial advantages) of dissecting the syrinx of Menura superba, I 
take the present opportunity of describing it in detail and figuring it. 
* [Since the above was written, I have been able to fully verify the correctness 
of Prof. Garrod’s supposition. Vide “Proceedings of the Zoological Society,” 1880, 
p- 390.--Ep. ] 
+ Vide “ Proceedings of the Zoological Society,” 1874, p. 111. (Supra, p. 208.) 
t “ Transactions of the Zoological Society,” vol. IX. Pl. LVI, fig. 6. 
§ “ Ann, and Mag. Nat. Hist.,”’ 1841 vol. vii, p. 49. 
