778 MR. W. A. FORBES ON THE [JuTie 21, 



NONNULA CINERACEA, Sp. nOV. 



Supra cineracea, dorso alls extus et cauda ohscurioribus ; loris et 

 ciliis oculorum albis : subtus palUde fulva, ventre crissoque alb is ; 

 subalaribus et remigum marginibus internis pallide cinnamomeis ; 

 rostro obscure jtlumbeo, ad basin flavicante ; pedibus plumbeis. 

 long tola 50, alee 26, caudee 21, rostro a rictu 1-0. 



Hub, Amazonia superior. 



Mus. Brit. 



Obs. Species N. rubeculcs proxima, sed colore dorsi cineraceo et 

 pectoris valde dilutiore distinguenda. 



The single specimen of this species is in the British Museum, 

 where it is marked Nonnula frontalis in the handwriting of the late 

 Mr. G. R. Gray. I do not, however, think that it can in any case 

 be referred to that species. The skin in question was received from 

 Mr. Bates through Mr. S. Stevens in 1853, and, as Mr. Bates 

 kindly informs me, was one of a series obtained by him at Ega from 

 a French collector who had been up the Rio Javari. It is labelled 

 "iris chatain, bee bleu." 



My specimen of Brachygalba alhigidaris (see Mon. Galb. et Bucc. 

 p. 45) was procured by the same collector ; and examples oiBucco col- 

 laris and Malacoptila rufa in Brit. Mus. are from the same source. 



7. On tlie Conformation of the Thoracic End of the Trachea 

 in the "Ratite" Birds. By W. A. Fokbes^ B.A., 

 r.L.S., Prosector to the Society. 



[Eeceived June 21, 1881.] 



In the present communication I propose to follow out the line of 

 •work developed by the late Prof. Garrod in his paper on the trachea 

 of the Gallinse ', by describing in detail the structure of the bifur- 

 cating trachea in the " Ratite " birds. 



So far as I am aware, no proper description of this structure in 

 the birds in question has ever been given, though the statement, 

 apparently originally due to Meckel ^ that in them "there is no 

 lower larynx," has been very generally followed and copied, even in 

 the latest text-books on the subject ^. Prof. Owen has briefly de- 

 scribed the bifurcating trachea in the Ostrich '' and Apteryx *; and 

 his accounts, as far as they go, are accurate enough. More recently 

 E. Alix has very briefly mentioned some peculiarities of this part in 

 the Rhea ; and his account will be found quoted below. 



1 "On the Conformation of the Thoracic Extremity of the Trachea in the 

 Class Atbs. Part I. The Galling," P. Z. S. 1879, pp. 354-380. 



2 ' Traite general d'Anatomie compar6e,'x. p. .571, 1838. 



3 Cf. Huxley's ' Anatomy of Vertebrates,' p. 313; Macalister, ' Morphology 

 of Vertebrates,' p. 161. 



* ' Catalogue of the Physiological Series of the Museum of the Eoyal 

 College of Surgeons,' ii. p. 103, prep. 1159 (1834). 

 5 Trans. Zool. Soc. ii. p. 279. 



