434 DR. G. HARTLAUB ON ANARHYNCHUS FRONTALIS. [June 24, 
and Numenius, had very probably never autoptically examined the 
old specimen of the ‘Astrolabe’ voyage. 
We must add that in a very complete and critical essay on a paper 
of Mr. Buller, on the avifauna of New Zealand, by our friend Dr. 
O. Finsch, the Anarhynchus is not even mentioned. 
So this interesting bird remained obscure and almost forgotten till a 
few weeks ago, when, in a large collection of New-Zealand birds sent by 
the well known naturalist Dr. Julius Haast to the Bremen Museum, 
we were most agreeably surprised by the discovery of two fine spe- 
cimens, adult male and female, of Anarhynchus frontalis. The label 
of these specimens bore the inscription, ‘‘ Hiaticula, sp., crooked 
bill constant.”’ We regret to say that we do not know in what 
particular portion of New Zealand these birds were collected. One 
of them, the male, is now deposited in the Bremen Museum ; the 
other will find its way into the splendid collection of Marquis Turati 
at Milan. 
The generic position of Adnarhynchus was very judiciously deter- 
mined by its first discoverers, and was afterwards adopted by Mr. 
G. R. Gray. It most certainly belongs to the Charadriade. The 
form of the bill, though quite extraordinary, and by its abrupt 
lateral bend quite unique in the ornithological series, offers, never- 
theless, a very distinct likeness to that of Strepsi/as. But in the 
entire absence of a hind toe, as well as in the style of the colouring, 
it is more like an Hiaticula. The feet are somewhat larger than in 
this latter division; but the proportional arrangement of the toes is 
the same, the inner being a little shorter than the outer. Still the 
formation of the feet is somewhat different from that of all other 
Charadriade ; for the lateral toes are united to the middle one at 
the base by a membrane, which occupies the first phalanx, and which 
is laterally continued over the other phalanges in the form of a narrow 
band or rim. When MM. Quoy and Gaimard point at the generic 
similarity to Calidris, we must not overlook that in this latter genus 
the inner and outer toe are of equal length, and without any mem- 
branaceous connexion with the middle one. The only aftinity to 
Thinornis consists in the comparative length of the beak, that part 
being much shorter in the true Plovers; the feet are totally differ- 
ent. In all Charadriine, without exception, the first quill is more 
or less the longest. 
ANARHYNCHUS, Q. et G. 
Char. gen.—Rostrum elongatum, gracile, subcompressum, apicem 
versus attenuatum, acutum, tertia parte apicali nonnihil sur- 
sum et distinctissime dextrorsum flecum, basi ad nares usque 
plumulis brevissimis obtectum ; naribus linearibus, in fossa lon- 
gitudinali elongata positis. Alz elongate, caude apicem su- 
perantes, acuminate, rigide, remige primo omnium longissimo, 
reliquis sensim brevioribus; secundariis longis, acutis, mollibus. 
Cauda mediocris, rotundata, e rectricibus duodecim composita. 
Pedes satis robusti, mediocres ; pollex nullus ; digiti membrana 
basali (per latera phalangum conspicue lateraliter elongata) 
