494 Miscellaneous. 
Mesite, preserved in spirits, which he has sent to M. Milne- 
Edwards for examination. The results of this investigation are 
given by the author as follows :— 
“The Mesite,” he says, “ are neither Gallinacee nor Pigeons, as 
I. Geoffroy and Prince Charles Bonaparte thought; nor are they 
Passeres, as Gray, Sundevall, and Hartlaub supposed. They must 
occupy a place among the Gralle, in which they form a family allied 
to the Rails and Herons. I cannot now dwell upon the tonforma- 
tion of the different parts of the skeleton and muscular system ; 
these details will be set forth in a special memoir ; and I shall con- 
fine myself here to noting that the sterno-clavicular apparatus is 
remarkable, and indicates only a very feeble power of flight; its 
characters are quite peculiar, although reminding one a little of 
those of certain Rails. The keel is not very prominent, and its an- 
terior angle is carried back nearly to the middle of the sternum ; 
the lateral plates are much reduced and cut into on each side by a 
deep emargination of the posterior margin. The episternal apo- 
physis, which is very strong, very long, and carinate below, bifur- 
cates at its apex to furnish points of attachment for the igaments 
of the shoulder. There ts no trace of a furcular bone; there is not 
even an osseous style like that which exists in certain nocturnal 
Rapacious birds, in some Parrots, and several Pigeons. The wings, 
which are very short, cannot enable the Jesite to sustain them- 
selves long in the air. 
“‘The pelvis is as remarkably broad as the sternum is narrow ; 
we remark in it some of the characters proper to the Hurypyge and 
Rallide. The feet are strong, and the toes, like those of the Blon- 
gios (Ardea minuta) and some other Herons, are constructed so as 
to be able to grasp reeds and vertical stems. 
“The muscles greatly resemble those of the Rallide. As in the 
latter, we find a femoro-caudal and its accessory, a semitendinosus 
and its accessory, and an iliac accessory of the perforate flexor of 
the toes, which, starting from the ilio-pectineal apophysis, passes 
along the inside of the thigh and over the rotula, and is inserted 
upon the superficial flexor of the toes; this latter bundle is deficient 
in the Ardeidz and in the Passeres. There are two carotids, as in 
the Rails and Herons, whilst the Passeres only possess a left carotid. 
** The Mesite are also remarkable for the existence of five pairs 
of down-patches hidden beneath the feathers, and occupying on the 
dorsal surface of the body the scapular and iliac regions, and on 
the ventral surface the pectoral, costal, and abdominal regions. 
The Herons present patches of the same nature, but differently dis- 
posed. The attention of naturalists had already been called to these 
peculiarities by Mr. E. Bartlett. 
“ Lastly, I may add that the differences of form and coloration 
which appeared to M. Desmurs sufficient to distinguish Mesites 
unicolor from M. variegatus appear to me to be due to sex: in fact 
the female Mesites that we possess is exactly like MW. unicolor, and 
the male has all the characters of that described by-I. Geoffroy 
under the name of variegatus.”—Comptes Rendus, April 22, 1878, 
p. 1029. 
