934 PROF. A. H. GARROD ON INDICATOR MAJOR. [Nov. 19, 



maxillo-palatines, are characters which tend to bring it nearer than 

 either of the others to the Picidse. 



The pterygoid bones of Indicator are much flattened from above 

 downwards, with thin outer and inner margins, which are curved, a 

 triangular groove on the palatal surface running from end to end. 

 In the Capitonidse and Ramphastidse these bones are much more 

 cylindroid, the superior surface alone being thin-edged, whilst in the 

 Picidse they are thin, as in Indicator, but differ in possessing a 

 large anteriorly directed process springing from the superior surface 

 of each. 



In Indicator there is a small notch in the middle of the superior 

 margin of the osseous orbit, no trace of which exists in any of the 

 other birds above referred to. In its external osseous nares, also, 

 there is no tendency towards the Eamphastine position of those 

 orifices, such as is so well marked in Tetragonops ; the alinasal ossi- 

 fication that tends to divide each of the nares into an anterior and 

 a posterior moiety is likewise far less considerable than in Megalcema. 



As is known, and well illustrated in Mr. Sclater's figure of the 

 bone (Ibis, 1870, p. 1/8), the sternum agrees most closely with that 

 of the Capitonidse and Ramphastidae ; and this is especially the case 

 in the imperfect development of the posterior extremity of the me- 

 dian xiphoid process, which in the Picidse continues further onward 

 to reach the level of the ends of the lateral xiphoid processes, at 

 the same time that the manubrial rostrum of the last-named familj r 

 only of the group is bifid. As to the posterior sternal notches, the 

 inner is the deeper ; and the same is the case in Gecinus viridis, whilst 

 in Picus, the Capitonidse, and Ramphastidse the outer is the deeper. 



In its soft parts Indicator agrees with the Capitonidse, Ramphas- 

 tidae, and Picidae, and differs from the Cuculidae, in the following 

 particulars : — There is only one carotid artery, the left ; the ambiens 

 and the accessory femoro-caudal muscles are absent (the latter of 

 these is wanting in the Tiee-Cuckoos) ; there are no colic cseca. 

 The femoro-caudal, semitendinosus and accessory semitendinosus are 

 present, as is the large gluteus. The tensor patagii brevis muscle 

 of the wing is inserted into the extensor metacarpi radialis longus 

 exactly as in the Capitonidae, Ramphastidae, and Picidse, and as in no 

 other birds '. As in these three groups also (and in the Galbulidae, 

 but not in the scansorial Cuculidae and Psittaci), the deep plantar 

 tendons are distributed peculiarly — the flexor profundus digitorum 

 supplying the third digit only, whilst the flexor longus hallucis 

 sends slips to digits i. n. and rv., as well as a vinculum to its com- 

 panion muscle 2 . The trachea at its lower end (fig. 3, p. 935) conso- 

 lidates into a bony box, formed by the fusion of the lowermost rings. 

 To the enlarged uppermost bronchial half- ring {a a) the single slender 

 intrinsic muscle of each side fans out to be attached at its middle. 



Summing up the results of the above analysis, it may be stated 

 that, among the Piriform birds, pterylosis, osteology, myology, and 

 visceral anatomy place the Picidae, Indicator, the Capitonidse, and 



1 Vide P. Z. S. 1876, p. 508, pi. xlviii. fig. 1. 



2 VldeV.Z. S. 1875. p. 340. 



