The Cubital Coverts of the Euronithce. 317 



collection now exhibited. This appropriately named, and 

 delicately beautiful species was discovered by Mr Eobertson 

 a good many years ago in Callum's Tarn, Bute. It has 

 since been observed in several other places in the west and 

 south of Scotland, but hitherto it does not appear to have 

 been recorded from any locality on the east side. It is with 

 some pleasure therefore that I now report its occurrence in 

 the Dow Loch, Kinross-shire, where several specimens were 

 obtained by me last summer when examining the lochs 

 among the Cleish Hills, of which the Dow Loch is one. So 

 far as I know this species has not as yet been observed out- 

 side of Scotland. 



XXIX. Tlie Cubital Coverts of the Euornithce in Relation to 

 Taxonomy. By J. G. Goodchild, H.M. Geol. Survey, 

 F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. [Plate XV.] 



(Read 19th February 1890.) 



The birds of the present day well illustrate a class of 

 animals that have attained the heyday of their development. 

 They present, in consequence, an extraordinary number of 

 species, whose extremes of structural modification differ from 

 each other to hardly a greater extent than do even those of 

 certain genera amongst the lower forms of the Sauropsida. 

 Indeed, after the taxonomist has placed on one side the 

 Struthious birds, and on the other the Penguins; the 

 remainder, or the Euornitha?, consist of many thousands of 

 forms, which are connected with each other by structural 

 ties of the most intimate nature. Even in the case of those 

 birds whose external characteristics differ noticeably from 

 the rest, closer examination reveals the existence of complex 

 inter-relationships and cross ties, which clearly indicate that 

 the Euornithse form one great natural group, as yet very 

 little broken up into isolated sections through the extinction 

 of annectant forms. The relationships of the Euornith?e might 

 therefore be represented by a complex net-work, which no 

 amount of ingenuity can ever force, satisfactorily, into a 

 linear arrangement. 



