146 Miscellaneous. 



similar chain of superorbitals in Psophia crepitans, " only in an en- 

 feebled form," is mentioned. The same author, in a memoir " On 

 the Structure and Development of the Skull in the Ostrich Tribe," 

 read before the Royal Society on March 9th, 1865, records the oc- 

 currence of a double row of these bones extending all along the 

 superorbital margin from the lacrymal to the postfrontal process in 

 Tinamus variegatus. 



I have now to announce the occurrence of a similar chain of 

 ossicles in four out of the eight recognized species of Arboricola, a 

 genus of Indian partridges, viz. in A. torqueola, atrogidaris, rufo- 

 gularis, and intermedia ; and I look forward with especial interest to 

 the examination of skulls of the two of the remaining species which 

 have been referred by some authors to the subgenus Peloperdix, and 

 which inhabit the Tenasserim provinces and the Malay peninsula. 



Mr Parker has pointed out how in the lapwing ( Vanellus) the 

 frontal in the young bird sends out square denticles of bony substance 

 under and beyond the nasal gland, which coalesce with one another, 

 with the lacrymal in front, and with the postfrontal process behind, so 

 as to form beyond the gland a secondary frontal margin, which acts 

 as a smooth eave to the eyeball — and that the superorbital chain 

 of bones in the tinamou takes the place of this secondary frontal 

 margin and the denticles in the lapwing, the same end being at- 

 tained by different means. But in the Arboricolce the arrangement 

 is totally different : in them the margins of the combined frontals, so 

 far from being bevelled or scooped for the reception of the nasal gland, 

 are rather prominent, and the internal edges of the ossicles composing 

 the chain come into close relation of apposition with them. 



I have examined a considerable number of species of Gallinaceous 

 birds, small and great, including, by the kindness of my friend Major 

 Godwin-Austen, a species of Bambusicola, but have hitherto failed 

 to detect so much as a single grain of bone in the superorbital mem- 

 brane of any one of them. 



The Arboricolce, I may add in conclusion, differ from all in not 

 having the temporal fossa bridged by bone, the zygomatic process 

 of the squamosal being quite rudimentary. — Journal of the Asiatic 

 /Society of Bengal, vol. xliii. part 2, 187-1. 



On the Helminthological Fauna of the Coasts of Brittany. 

 By M. A. Villot. 



The shores of Roseoff, so rich in the lower animals, offer to shore- 

 birds an easily attainable lodging and food as abundant as it is 

 varied. These are, in fact, very numerous there, and certainly play 

 an important part in the economy of the fauna. The species most 

 commonly met with are the following — Tringa canutus, T. alpina, 

 Charadrius hiaticula, Pluvialis apricarius, Calidris arenaria, Strep- 

 silas interpres, Totanus calidris, Limosa rufa, Ntimenius arquata, 

 N. phasopus, Hcematoptis ostralegus, Ardea cinerea, Larus ridibundus, 

 Carbo cormoranus, Sterna paradisea, S. hinindo, S. minuta, S. Jissipes, 

 Urla troile, and Fratercula arctica. The greater number of these 



