514 MR. W. K. PARKER ON PALAMEDEA. [DcC. 8, 



cal forms by other Spur-winged Plovers {Pluvianus spinosus, Gould). 

 Now, looking at the anatine birds as a great division of specialized 

 forms parallel with, and intimately related to, the pluvialine birds, we 

 begin to see how they can be related to the mixed " Gallinacese," 

 which have so much of the Plover in their essence. But we had much, 

 at starting, in common between the typical and pure Fowls and the 

 Duck and Goose tribe ; add to this the fact that the Mound-makers 

 and Curassows come much nearer to the "Anatinse," and then sup- 

 pose an anatine bird in which the horny denticles are feeble, but abun- 

 dant, and the jaws compressed, stout, and trenchant, the same bird 

 having the occipital region in harmony, not with the Geese, but with 

 the Fowls, — put all these things together, and we shall be supposing 

 what really exists in the Palamedea. Then we can calmly look at 

 the fact that those Geese which have spurs in their wings, like those 

 of the Palamedea (viz. Chenalopex and Plectropterus), have their 

 legs longer, more grallatorial, and better under them than the typical 

 forms, and that the Spur-winged Goose (^Plectropterus) has a pelvis 

 exactly intermediate between that of a typical Goose and that of a 

 Palamedea. It is worth while to notice the thick down that covers 

 the Palamedea, the height of the bare tract on the tibia, and the reti- 

 culated tarsi, like those of the Goose, and not like those of the Cranes 

 and Rails, which have them scutellate in front. Whilst removing 

 the viscera, I saw that the trachea and inferior larynx were truly an- 

 serine ; for there are no inferior laryngeal muscles, the contractors 

 of the trachea ending one-third of an inch above the bifurcation, and 

 only a delicate fan-shaped fascia going to the half-rings. Moreover 

 the trachea itself, from being flat and cartilaginous, becomes round 

 and then compressed and osseous an inch above the bronchi, so that 

 it cannot be mistaken for the trachea of any other than an anatine 

 bird. There is nothing whatever in the digestive organs, which are 

 extremely voluminous, to separate the bird from the Geese ; yet the 

 gizzard is not so strong as in the types, and the cseca coli are shorter 

 and wider. I have at present only hinted at the osteology of the 

 Palamedea. It diverges from the Goose in all this part of its com- 

 position, just as much as it converges towards the Curassow and the 

 Talegalla ; but it is not only more galline than the true Geese (we 

 have seen that both Geese and Fowls have much in common), it is 

 also plainly more lacertine. It will require a goodly memoir to do 

 it justice ; but in this short notice I must mention one or two things. 

 Its large soft tongue, which has not the papillae horny, has in it the 

 cerato-hyals, ossified from separate points as in the Goose and Hen, 

 much nearer the former than the latter ; but the free thyro-hyals are 

 flattened from above downwards, and cannot be mistaken for those of 

 any other but an anserine or anatine bird. All the skull and face, 

 except at its two ends, conforms to the lamellirostral type. Point by 

 point, process by process, lamina for lamina, all else is truly and 

 distinctly that which belongs to the Sifter, and to no other bird. 

 It may be said indeed that this bird is not a Sifter ; it is, however, 

 a browzer and a grazer ; and being of Lincolnshire descent, and 



