1882.] PROF. OWEN ON TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 571 



of tail-feathers must be considered to be that normal in the present 

 family, twelve being: that universal, with a few isolated exceptions, 

 in all other Passeres. 



In all other points, Xenicus and Acanthisitta conform to the 

 general Passerine type. There is no trace of a plantar vinculum. 

 The tensor patagii brevis has the peculiar arrangement charac- 

 terizing the Passeres, only slightly masked by the muscular fibres 

 somewhat concealing the two superimposed tendons, as is frequently 

 the case in the short-and-rounded-winged forms of the group. The 

 gluteus primus is well-developed. The tongue is lanceolate and horny, 

 with its apex somewhat frayed out and its base spiny. The main 

 artery of the leg is the sciatic. The sternum has a single pair of 

 posterior notches and a bifid manubrium. In the skull the nostrils 

 are holorhinal, the vomer broad and deeply emarginate anteriorly, 

 the maxillo-palatines slender and recurved. 



As regards the affinities of the Xenicidae, the " haploophone " 

 form of their syrinx, combined with the complete loss of a vinculum, 

 shows that it is only with the Pipridse (including the Cotingidae), 

 Tyrannidae, Pittidse, and Philepittidae that they can be compared. 

 From all of these they differ markedly, however, iu the number of 

 rectrices, the ocreate tarsus, and the nature of the syrinx, the latter 

 never having the form of a complete bony box, and never lacking 

 a bronchial " intrinsic " muscle in any of the families just enu- 

 merated. The Pittidse they approach somewhat in their general 

 fades, short tail, and long tarsus, though the tarsal scutellation is 

 different in the two forms. 



The Pittidse are also, it is interesting to note, the only other family 

 of Mesomyodian Passeres that enters the Australian region, though 

 they have not extended their range to New Zealand. I know at 

 present of no other Australian Passerines that can be considered allied 

 to the Xenicidse ; nor are there apparently any other forms than the 

 two here described present in New Zealand itself, Certhiparus and 

 Miro both being, as well as Clitonyx ', Oscines of the normal type. 



4. On Trichina spiralis. By Prof. Owen, C.B., 

 F.R.S., F.G.S., &c. 



[Eeceived June 10, 1882.] 



The admission, kindly accorded by the Publication Committee, 

 of my paper on Trichina spiralis (1835) to the first volume of the 

 ' Transactions of the Zoological Society of London,' leads me to sub- 

 mit a few observations on subsequent references that have appeared 

 in print on the subject of that paper. The general impression so 

 produced is indicated by the following definition by the late lamented 

 " Academicien," Littre, in his admirable ' Dictionnaire delaLangue 

 frangaise:' — "Trichine, s. f. Nom generique d'un helminthe 

 nemato'ide, le Trichina spiralis, decouverte par Hilton at decrit par 

 R. Owen." 



* Vide anteH, p. 544. 



