1890.] THE STRUCTURE OF PSOPHIA. 341 



The most central form I believe to be Grus, i. e. the family Gruidae 

 (includii)g Aramus). To unite this family with the Limicolfe in a 

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

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

 of the Gruidae. 



I do not propose to say much about Rhinochetus 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 Limicolse. 



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

 developed in the Limicolse and is hardly recognizable in the Rallidae, 

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

 character, it would indicate the low position of the Gruidae. 



3. Ou new or little-knowu Birds from South-eastern China. 

 By Henry 8eebohm, F.Z.S. 



[Eeceived April 11, 1890.] 

 (Plate XXVII.) 



Through the kindness of my old friend and travelling companion 

 in Finnmark, Professor Collett, of the Zoological Museum of 

 Christiania University, I have had an opportunity of examining a 

 large collection of birds, comprising examples of 182 species, from 

 North Fokieu in South-eastern China. Most of the examples were 

 procured by Herr Baun at Puching, up amongst the hills, but some 

 of them were obtained at Foo-chow on the coast. 



"When it is remembered what large numbers of birds were collected 

 by Swinhoe in South Fokien, it is surprising that amongst the birds 

 of North Fokien examples of so many interesting species as are 

 enumerated in the following list have been procured. 



Xanthopygia cyanomel^na. 



Herr Baun has sent a female collected at Puching on the 28lh 

 of April, which agrees exactly with females of this species from 

 China in the Swinhoe collection, and from Japan in the Pryer 

 collection. It also agrees with the plate in the 'Fauna Japonica' of 

 Muscicapa gularis. 



Xanthopygia narcissina. 



Herr Baun has sent examples of this species collected at Puching 



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

 separation of the Eallida &c. from the Cranes ap]Dears to rae to be one of the 

 most striking signs of artificiality in Garrod's scheme. 



- " Notes on tlie Anatomy and Systematic Position of the Ja^aniis {ParrkltB)," 

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

 1884, p. 119. In associating together all the birds treated of in the present 

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

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



Proc. Zool. Soc— 1890, No. XXIV. 24 



