4 Leach, The Myology of the Bell-Magpie. [,sf "juiy 



Pycraft, in an article in the " Proceedings of the Zoological 

 Society," on " The Osteology of the Gymnorhines," tills in some 

 of the internodes referred to by Parker when he said, " There 

 are not many internodes between this upper type (Gymnorhina) 

 and the ChiHan and Brazihan birds that grow out below it." 

 Pycraft placed Gymnorhina at the summit of a branch of the 

 Passeriformes. Apparently he did not examine Strepera or 

 Cracticus. 



The Myology of Strepera. 



In describing the muscles of Strepera, much assistance has been 

 received from Shufeldt's " Myology of the Raven." As Strepera 

 has the same arrangement for most of the muscles, and as 

 Shufeldt has given a full synonymy and abundant references in 

 notes to the classical works of Owen, Gadow, and Furbringer, his 

 arrangement, names, and numbers for the different muscles have 

 been adopted. 



THE DERMAL MUSCLES. 



There are 13 muscles named and described by Shufeldt as being 

 connected with the skin of a Raven. These skin muscles, with 

 the possible exception of the dermo-ulnaris (11), are probably 

 more or less closely united. A bird shakes its feathers after a 

 dust bath. One can readily conceive that, in order to work the 

 feathers simultaneously, there should be a more or less intimate 

 connection between the different skin muscles. 



The 13 muscles have been named by Shufeldt as follow : — 



1. The dermo-frontalis. 



2. The circttmconcha. 



3. The dermo-temporalis. 



4. The dermo-dorsalis. 



5. The platysma myoides. 



6. The dermo-tensor patagii. 



7. The dermo-cleido dorsalis. 



8. The deido-trachealis. 



9. The dermo- spinalis. 



10. The dermo-iliacus. 



11. The dermo -idnar is. 



12. The dermo-humeralis. 



13. The dermo-pectoralis. 



I. The dermo-frontalis [i].* Shufeldt describes this as being 

 present only in old male Ravens. He says : — " It is about 

 3 centimetres long and a few millimetres wide, closely attached 

 to the skin." I find a fine muscle stratum underlying the feathers 

 of the head tract in Strepera t and the Australian Raven. 

 Possibly the Australian Raven has not the fine muscle band, but 



* A number in brackets [ ] refers to a diagram on ])late i or 2. A number 

 in parentheses ( ) is the consecutive number used for the muscle by Shufeldt 

 in " The Myology of the Raven." 



f The species examined were Strepera ^raculina, Corvus aiistrnlis, Gymnor- 

 hina tihicen, Cracticus destructor. 



