672 DR. J. MTJRIE ON THE SKELETON OF TODUS. [May 21, 



foramen; costal process large and elongate. As to the connecting 

 girdle of bones, each coracoid exceeds the oblique sternal diameter 

 (i, e. from coracoid groove to the middle xiphoid process) ; epicora- 

 coid large ; the furcula is very delicate, without hypocleidium ; the 

 upper end of the clavicle is not expanded, and has no precoracoid 

 spur. 



Notwithstanding what the French author says, the above features 

 of the sternum of Todus cannot be predicated of all the Alcedinidse, 

 but some of them more especially belong to the Halcyoninse. Not 

 only in its small size, but also generally, Ispidina is sternally likest 

 Todus : but even in it the likeness is not complete ; for instance, in 

 it the xiphoid processes are shorter and stouter, the keel advances 

 more forwards, and with an almost straight anterior edge, and the 

 furcula is stouter and has a large precoracoid process. Taken all 

 in all, the sternum of Eumomota is uncommonly like that of Todus, 

 only enlarged. 



In the Bee-eaters (Merops) the keel is still longer, the rostrum 

 broad. The Jacamars (Galbula), with xiphoids not unlike the Tody's, 

 have a much shorter rostrum ; while in the Barbets (Capito and 

 Megalaima) it becomes unusually elongate, as does the internal 

 xiphoid bar. 



Amongst the Flycatchers, and notably such as Todus has been con- 

 sidered affine to, a trenchant distinction obtains, there being in their 

 sterna but two xiphoid notches ; the rostrum not only is powerful, but 

 terminally deeply cleft ; the precoracoid is greatly expanded ; and 

 there is a hypocleidium. 



I have demonstrated in my ' Anatomical Monograph of the King- 

 fishers ' that their pelvis preseuts two extremes of configuration : — one, 

 Dacelo and the Halcyon group, where the prseacetabular area is rela- 

 tively narrow through deflection of the ilia ; the other, Ceryle and 

 the Alcedine group, the reverse, or widish anteriorly, and, upon the 

 whole, flat on the dorsum. 



Todus rather draws towards the former, and presents modification 

 from Ispidina in wanting a marginal iliac process in front of the 

 acetabulum, aud in having more sacral perforations and deeper dorsal 

 grooves— characters diagnostic of Eumomota. The Muscicapidae do 

 not show any very separate type of pelvis from the Tody. The 

 Meropidse incline to the broad pelvic contour characterizing Ceryle 

 and Alcedo. 



Bones of the Wing and Leg. 



The humerus is by no means diminutive, considering the small size 

 of the bird, and as contrasted with the femur is large. Whilst 

 there is a general likeness to the humerus of the Kingfishers, it yet 

 presents easy shades of difference, conspicuous when the bones are 

 laid alongside each other. The head relatively is more flattened an- 

 tero-posteriorly, and is set more at a right angle to the shaft, giving 

 a pouting character thereby. The shaft, moreover, has greater 

 torsion, the same existing in Eumomota — a fact best appreciated when 

 the small-sized humerus of Ispidina picta is submitted to comparison. 



