1872.] DR. J. MURIE ON THE SKELETON OF TODUS. G/9 



the other hand, that the feather- tracts are not after the disposition 

 of the Muscicapinae. 



When we come to test skeletal relations, the first question is 

 whether it be iEgithognathous or Desmognathous; and to the latter 

 it must be assigned. This seemingly settles the matter as to Pas- 

 serine kin ; yet as in externals, so internally there are ties denoting 

 osteological development after the type of the Muscicapidae rather 

 than Alcedinidae and allies. Such are the large vacuities in the 

 horizontal palatal plates, the short inward set of the pterygoids, the 

 large patent nares, the brain-elevation, the membranoid condition of 

 the ali- and orbito-sphenoids, the non-ossification of the interorbital 

 septum, the shape and set of the lachrymals, the occipital contour, 

 the shallow squamoid groove, the vertebral numbers, the humeral 

 torsion, the spineless anteiliac margin, the shape of hypotarsus, and, 

 lastly, tarsal elongation. Though so numerous seem the discrepancies, 

 they are nevertheless counterbalanced and overmatched by osteolo- 

 gical organization assigning kindred to the Coccygomorphine group. 



It results, then, from my investigation and a summing up of the 

 labours of others that Todus is a Coccygomorph. Its nearest living 

 allies undoubtedly are the Motmots and Kingfishers ; but it presents 

 such aberrance that it ought not to be ranked amongst either, but in 

 proximity as a separate division of the Coceygomorphae — the Todidce, 

 equivalent to the Momotidse. As I interpret avine forms, a tithe 

 only of which are known (for who can say what fossil remnants are 

 yet to be dug up), we cannot be positive of the direct lineage that 

 any abnormal group specially were derived from. Here I shall urge 

 the remarkable ramifications affiliating the Tody with genera of 

 the most diverse sorts — Momotus, Ispidina, Myoceyx, Alcyone, 

 Muscicapa, Cymbirhynchus, Plutyrhynchus, Merops, Gulbula, 

 Capito, &c, all more or less, one might say, tainted with parent 

 blood. This forces on me the conviction how difficult it is 

 to divine from limited data the descent and nearest kindred of 

 many of those so-called aberrant forms, be they Bird, Mammal, or 

 Reptile ; so that the vital stock and the modus operandi of differen- 

 tiation are as yet hidden, which palaeontology and the study of deve- 

 lopment may one day help us to unravel. 



It may be presumed that Todus comes of Halcyonine lineage, 

 though its organization places it in juxtaposition with the Motmots. 

 It moreover offers structure so truly Passerine as to mask its more 

 direct allies; and such exterior points deceived the older naturalists 

 or were too strongly insisted on. 



The Todidae. 



Coccygomorphs characterized by:— Naked oil-gland; feathers 

 with diminutive aftershat't ; spinal tract simple, dilated behind sca- 

 pulae ; each moiety of ventral tract posteriorly tenuous, with wide 

 pectoral and humeral branches. Tongue thin, tapering ; stomach 

 muscular ; intestines short and with caeca. Right and left carotids ; 

 lower larynx simple, with a pair of muscles. Feet syndactyle ; first 



