1890.] THE STRUCTURE OF PSOPHIA. 341 



The most central form I believe to be Orus, the family Gruidae 

 (including Aratnus). To include this family with the Limicolae in a 

 group Pluviales, as Prof. Garrod ' and Mr. Forbes ^ have done, seems 

 to me to be an ignoring of some of the obvious cranial characters 

 of the Gruidae. 



I do not propose to say much about Bhinochetus and Eurypyga 

 now, as I am waiting an opportunity of completing my notes upon 

 the anatomy of these two forms. In the meantime, however, I 

 regard them as closely allied, and as having been given off from 

 the Crane stock shortly after one branch of this had begun to 

 develop in the direction of the Limicolae. 



In the Cranes the omentum is well developed, while it is less 

 developed in the Limicolae and hardly recognizable in the Rallidae, 

 Psophia, and Cariama. If any stress may be laid upon this 

 character, it indicates the low position of the Gruidae. 



1 " On certain Muscles of Birds.— Pt. II.," P. Z. S. 1874, p. 117. The wide 

 separation of the Ballid^e &c. from the Cranes appears to me to be one of the 

 most striking signs of artificiality in Garrod's scheme. 



^ " Notes on the Anatomy and Systematic Position of the Jaijanas (Parrida)," 

 P. Z, S. 1881, p. 639 ; " Forbes's Final Idea as to the Classification of Birds," Ibis, 

 1884, p. 119. In associating togetlier all the birds treated of in the pre.sent 

 paper as a group Charadrioriiithes, Fiirbringer exactly expresses my own opinion. 

 This also is the position taken up by Mr. Seebohm (Ibis, 1889, p. 415). 



Contents {continued). 



April 1, 1890. 



Page 

 The Secretary. Eeport on the Additions to the Society's Menagerie in March 1890. 



(Plate XV.) 147 



Mr. J. H. Gurney, Jan., F.Z.S. Exhibition of a specimen of a hybrid between the Tree- 

 Sparrow and the House-Sparrow 147 



Mr. A. Smith-Woodward. Exhibition of, and remarks upon, a Mesozoic Palseoniscid Fish 



from New South Wales 148 



Mr. C. M. Woodford, C.M.Z.S. Eemarks upon the Fauna of the Solomon Islands 148 



1. Contributions to the Study of Heloderma suspectum. By K. W. Shufeldt, M.D., C.M.Z.S. 



(Plates XVI.-XVIII.) 148 



2. Description of a new Species of Deep-sea Fish from the Cape (Lophofes fisM). By Dr. 



A. C. L. GiJNTHER, F.E.S. (Plates XIX. & XX.) 244 



3. Report on the Marine MoUuscan Fauna of the Island of St. Helena. By Edgar A. 



Smith. (Plates XXI.-XXIV.) 247 



4. On the Marine MoUusca of Ascension Island. By Edgar A. Smith 317 



April 15, 1890. 



1. Second Report on Additions to the Batrachian Collection in the Natural-History Museum. 



By G. A. BouLENGER. (Plates XXV. & XXVI.) 323 



2, On the Structure of Psophia and on its Relations to other Bir^ls. By Frank E. Beddabd, 



M. A., &c.. Prosector to the Society 329 



