THE LIPOGLOSSJi. 103 



space, which is also the largest of all the spaces. (Plate VI, fig. 1.) I likewise observed a narrow 

 central inferior space, starting only from the lower extremity of the neck ; a short lateral space on 

 the trunk ; an indistinct, narrow superior wing-space beside the humeral tract (fig. 2) ; and a 

 narrow lanceolate spinal space between the shoulder-blades. This latter appeared to be wanting 

 in B. biarcuatus and coronatus, but was distinctly visible in B. nasutus. This species also had a 

 somewhat longer and broader inferior space, and a very distinct broad lateral space, which was 

 observable both superiorly near the dorsal tract, and inferiorly beside the bands of the inferior 

 tract. In the posterior part of this, on the thigh, two rows of feathers appear distinctly as a 

 lumbar tract. The pterylosis of this species is, however, just as sparse and weak, as in the species 

 figured and the rest of the group ; the axillary tracts alone, which are three or four rows in breadth, 

 are distinguished, especially towards their posterior extremity, by stronger and more closely 

 approximated feathers. On the rest of the body, with the exception of the neck, the contour- 

 feathers are very lax, for the most part with downy barbs, and with their barbules not well linked 

 together. In B. abyssinicus I counted twenty-seven remiges, in B. plicatus twenty-six, in B. 

 biarcuatus twenty-four, and in B. coronatus and B. nasutus only twenty-one ; of these the first three 

 are very strongly graduated, and the fourth, fifth, and sixth are the longest and of exactly equal 

 length ; B. biarcuatus alone is distinguished by having the seventh the longest and all the pre- 

 ceding ones graduated. None of the remiges present any degradation or diminution of the inner 

 web, but they are on the whole narrow and pointed. The thumb always bears four feathers. 



The oil-gland, which I have carefully examined only in B. abyssinicus, appears as a large, 

 rounded bulb, covered all over with woolly feathers ; I could not detect on it any mamilla or 

 orifice, but the shafts of the above-mentioned feathers penetrated the bulb throughout to the 

 base. In B. biarcuatus and B. plicatus, the external aspect of this organ was exactly the same ; 

 but in B. nasutus the gland has a very elongated cylindrical appearance ; it lay precisely upon the 

 middle feathers of the tail, and bore at its obtuse extremity a circlet of very short oil-feathers. 



I have yet to notice that the margins of the eyelids, especially the upper ones, are furnished 

 with very strong lashes, and that these are larger in proportion as the naked space surrounding 

 the eye is extended. In most cases, also, there is a naked space under the throat, as in the 

 Parrots. 



2. Upupa (Plate VI, figs. 3 and 4). The tracts of this genus are remarkably narrow, 

 and in this respect, as also in their form, resemble those of the analogous genus Galbula. The 

 head is sparsely feathered, with a narrow longitudinal space in the middle of the crest, and a 

 large temporal space behind each eye. The neck is for the most part naked, as down-feathers 

 are almost entirely wanting here not only on the tracts, but also on the spaces. I have detected a 

 few, partly rather strong down-feathers, only at the inner margin of the inferior space, at the 

 outer margin of the truncal portion of the dorsal tract, on the lower wing space, on the femoral 

 tracts, where they pass imperceptibly into the contour-feathers, and in the vicinity of the axilla 

 between it and the branch of the inferior tract. The dorsal tract is uninterrupted ; commences 

 as a narrow, but still quadriserial band at the nape ; continues of the same structure to the 

 shoulders, and divides here into two limbs, which are each four feathers broad, run along at the 

 inner margin of the shoulder-blades, and, enclosing the entire spinal column between them, meet 

 again at the caudal pit, from which they run as a simple stem, retaining the same breadth, to 

 the oil-gland, immediately in front of which they terminate. The inferior tract is still narrower 

 and weaker ; it commences as a simple band at the throat, but divides immediately into two 



