114 



MR. P. L. SCLATER ON THE BREEDING OF ( Feb. 4, 



,e9 after they branched fro^ 



Diagram to sliovr position of Opisthooomus. 



This diagram indicates that the Galliform ancestor, besides giving 

 rise to the at this moment irrelevant Rallidse and Psittaci, varied 

 also in a strictly Gallinaceous direction, the ancestor of Opisthooomus 

 leaving the parent stem very shortly^ before the true Gallinse first 

 appeared, and at about the same time as the independent pedigree 

 of the Cuculidff'. and Musophagidse commenced. That the Muso- 

 phagidse and the Cnculidaa are very closely related to the GallinaB is 

 proved by facts brought forward by me in an earlier paper'; and the 

 anatomy of the Hoatziii seems to still further favour this hypothesis, 

 by showing that there exists a bird which helps to fill the gaps 

 between them. 



2. On the Breeding of the Argns Pheasant and other Pha- 

 sianidte in the Society's Gardens. By P. L. Sclater, 

 M.A., Ph.D., F.R.S., Secretary to the Society. 



[Eeeeived December ]1, 1878.] 

 (Plates VII. & Vlfl.) 



Although the hopes entertained some twenty years ago of esta- 

 blishing the wliole of the Indian Phasianidae as permanent denizens 

 in our aviaries^ have been disappointed, and some of the species 



' P. Z. S. 1874, p. 121. ■ Cf. Mitchell, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 554. 



