248 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Musophagiclce, and the Malaj'an genus Calorhamphus among the 



BucC07li(l(B. 



The anatomy of all is very similar. Like the Woodpeckers, 

 they have a very low sternal ridge, and the breast-bone is doubly 

 emarginated posteriorly ; the coracoids are unusually long ; the 

 furcula feeble, and commonly imperfect ; its lateral halves (or 

 the two clavicles) not being completely joined in the M us ophagidcB 

 (at least in Turacus), and in the Toucans (Rhamphastos) and 

 Barbets {Bucco) being more or less short and separated by a con- 

 siderable interval.* Altogether, the sternal apparatus with its 

 appendages much resembles that of the Picidce, but in the 

 Touracos deviates somewhat from the rest, and is remarkably 

 small in proportion to the general size of the bird. The bill, 

 of enormous dimensions in the larger Toucans among the 

 Rkamphast'id(B, is moderately large in most of the Bucconida, and 

 preserves the tendency to inflation in the genus Masophaga among 

 the Musophagidce. The tongue, which in the Toucans is long 

 and slender, and barbed laterally like a feather, exhibits a similar 

 structure less developed in the larger Barbets,t and shows a trace 

 of the same conformation in certain Touracos.t The gullet is 

 wide and even ; the muscular coat of the stomach little developed ; 

 the intestine short and wide, about the length of the bird from 

 tip of bill to vent in Rhamphastos, \\ that length in Bucco, and 

 about twice in Turacus. The Bucconidte and Rhamphastidcp, have 

 no gall-bladder ; and the liver consists of two unequal lobes — the 

 left, on which side the stomach lies, but half covering it, while 

 the right lobe reaches as far as the stomach does ; the 

 MusoplLagldte, on the contrary, have a well developed gall-bladder. 

 Of the three distinct families here indicated, the Musophagidce 

 are wholly peculiar to Africa, and the Rhamphastidce to S. 

 America ; the Bucconida (which are most closely allied to the 

 Rhamphastida: in internal structure) inhabit, in different genera, 

 S. E. Asia, Africa, and S. America. With these alone we have 

 now to deal. 



* M. L'Hcrmiuier figures the sternum of Pteroglossus, however, with an 

 entire fui'cula, or probably the clavicles were incompletely joined as in 

 Turacus. 



f This stnictm-e is well shown in B. asiaticus, while scarcely a trace of 

 it is observable in the small B. indicus. I find that individuals vary in this 

 respect. 



\ Vide P. Z. S. 1834, p. 3, 1830, p. 33. 



