514 MR. A. H. GARROD ON THE ANATOMY [June 6, 



length ; and the muscles of the thigh are similarly arranged to those 

 of most Passeres, the myologieal formula * being A,XY, the ambiens 

 muscle being absent, at the same time that the jle.vor longus hallueis 

 is quite independent of the flexor digitorum perforans. The palate is 

 beautifully figured by Mr. Parker in his memoir on /Egithognathous 

 birds f; and I take this opportunity of giving a view of the back of 

 the skull and of the sternum, which present features of interest. It 

 will be noticed that the temporal fossse extend across the occipital 

 region of the skull, and nearly meet in the middle line behind ; this 

 condition, though frequently found in other families, is not one 

 possessed by any Passerine birds except Pitta, as far as I am aware. 

 Plate LIII. fig. 8 shows the sternum of P. cyanuru ; in it the sternal 

 notches are particularly deep. 



Menura superba is another bird in which cur knowledge of the 

 structure of the syrinx is very deficient. Mr. Eyton has described 

 it j; but his account will bear supplementing. He tells us that "in 

 addition to the usual sterno-tracheal muscles this curious bird has 

 two other pair, both of which have their origin on the rings of the 

 trachea on each side, at the point where it enters the cavity of the 

 thorax. The anterior pair is inserted ou the knobs at the extremities 

 of the fourth bones of the bronchiaa ; the posterior pair are also 

 inserted on the bronchise, but on the three uppermost rings and on 

 the posterior extremity of the fifth." 



Several opportunities having occurred to me (partly through the 

 kindness of Professor Flower in allowing me to dissect a specimen 

 beautifully preserved in the Royal College of Surgeons, partly 

 through the assistance of Mr. Edward Gerrard, and partly from my 

 prosectorial advantages) of dissecting the syrinx of Menura su- 

 perha, I take the present opportunity of describing it in detail and 

 figuring it. 



In Menura superba the last sixteen rings of the trachea are 

 peculiarly narrow from above downwards. These are carinate in 

 front; in other words, instead of being flattened from without inwards 

 (as is usually the case, and is so in the rings above the sixteenth in 

 this bird), they are compressed from above downwards, by which 

 means a sharp-edged ridge is developed, which projects outwards a 

 short way beyond the level of the interannular membrane. The 

 lowest of these rings, the last tracheal, whilst participating in this 

 peculiarity, is modified to form the three-way piece, whence start the 

 bronchi, an antero-posterior bar joining the downward-directed 

 angles which are developed on the middle of the front and back of 

 the ring, and supporting the syringeal semilunar membrane. 



As in the typical Oscines, the first three bronchial semirings par- 

 ticipate in the formation of the syrinx, and are modified accordingly, 

 being stronger, deeper, more flattened, and more approximate than 

 those which follow. The first of these is simple ; the second is 

 peculiar in being hollow and thin-walled, broader in front than be- 

 hind, and broadest a short distance (about equal to its depth at the 



* Vide P. Z. S. 1874, p. 111. t Trans. Z. S. vol. ix. pi. lvi. fig. 6. 



J Ann. & Mag. Nat. .Hist. 1841, vol. vi'i. p. V.K 



