SHUFELDT: THE OSTEOLOGY OF THE STEGANOPODES 111 



genus Sula. There is S. cycmojw, 8. mla, S. brewsteri, S. gossi, S. piscator, and finally, 

 the well-known Gannet Sula bassana. The Anhingidss or Darters, are represented 

 by the common Anhinga, or Snake Bird, (Anhinga anhinga). Ornithologists have 

 placed all our Cormorants in the genus Phalacrocorax, (Phalacrocoracidse), and of 

 them, species and subspecies taken together, there seem to be nearly a dozen vari- 

 eties. Next we have three Pelicans of the family Pelecanidx; these are Pelccanus 

 erytkrorhynchus, the American White Pelican; P. fuscus, the Brown Pelican; and 

 lastly, P. californicus, the Californian Brown Pelican. Finally, there is the Man- 

 o'-War Bird, Fregata aquila of the family Fregatidse, a conspicuous steganopod 

 of tropical and subtropical coasts generally. 



Newton has said "that the tropic birds form a distinct family, Phaethontidx, of 

 the Steganopodes (the Dyspowmorphss of Professor Huxley), was originally maintained 

 by Brandt, and is now generally admitted, yet it cannot be denied that they differ 

 a good deal from the other members of the group ; 2 indeed, Professor Mivart, in the 

 Zoological Transactions (X., p. 364) will hardly allow Fregata and Phaethon to be 

 Steganopodons at all ; and one curious difference is shown by the eggs of the latter, 

 which are in appearance so wholly unlike those of the rest. The osteology of two 

 species has been well described and illustrated by Professor Alph. Milne-Edwards 

 in M. Grandidier's fine Oiseaux de Madagascar (pp. 701-704, pis. 279-281 a)." 3 



The same distinguished authority has remarked of the Sulidse that " structurally 

 the Gannet presents many points worthy of note, such as its closed nostrils, its 

 aborted tongue, and its toes all connected by a web characters which it possesses 

 in common with most of the other members of the group of birds (Steganopodes) to 

 which it belongs. But more remarkable still is the system of subcutaneous air-cells, 

 some of large size, pervading almost the whole surface of the body, communicating 

 with the lungs, and capable of being inflated or emptied at the will of the birds 

 This peculiarity has attracted the attention of several writers Montagu, Professor 

 Owen, (Proc. Zool. Soc., 1831, p. 90), and Macgillivray ; but a full and particular 

 account of the anatomy of the Gannet is still to be desired." 



Some of our Sulidse, as S. sula, S. cyanops, and Sula piscator are known as Boo- 

 bies, from their apparent excessive stupidity, but which the writer pleases to call too 

 little dread or fear of the great destroyer man. Sailors are very prone to the 

 taking of bird-life without stint and for no other purpose than amusement, when- 

 ever they get the opportunity upon lonely islands where sea-fowl abound. Myriad. 



1 Sulidic (Gannet), Pelecanidx (Pelican), Plotidie (Snake- Bird), Phalacrocoracidie (Cormorant), and Fregalida; 

 ( Frigate-Bird ). 



Newton, Al., F.R.S. Art. " Tropic-Bird," Encycl. Brit., 9th Ed., Vol. XXIII., p. 588, 1888. 



