446 MR, W. A. FORBES ON THE [May 16, 
irregularly-placed contour-feathers lying outside the main tract. on 
the surface of the breast, between that tract and the patagial one. 
Concerning the external characters of Todus, I may remark that 
the structure of the foot, when carefully compared with that of the 
Momotide, presents considerable differences. In the first place, the 
long tarso-metatarse, instead of being covered by distinct transverse 
scutes anteriorly, and by two or more series of smaller scutelle 
behind, is ‘‘ocreate,’’ being invested anteriorly by a single long 
scute, without any traces of division; this spreads round both ex- 
ternal and internal aspects of the leg, leaving behind a narrow 
margin of naked skin, with some indication of scutellation. The 
feet (fig. 2) are much more syndactylous than they are in the Momo- 
tidee. The second digit is united to the third deyond the first phalanx of 
each, and the third to the fourth deyond the second joint of the third. 
In Momotus and its allies (vide fig. 3) the union between the second 
and third digits only extends for about the basal half of their first 
Fig. 2. Fig. 3. 
Foot of Todus dominicensis. Foot of Momotus lessoni. 
phalanges, and that of the third and fourth for about half the second 
phalanx of the former. The feet of Todus resemble rather those of the 
Kingfishers, though the syndactylism has advanced further than in 
these birds. The position of the hallux is quite normal, it being 
directed altogether backwards, not largely inwards, as imagined by 
Dr. Murie. The nostrils have a well-defined circular aperture ; 
they lie, unconcealed by the frontal plumes, close to the culmen. 
Behind them, and extending back as far as the gape, is a well- 
developed series of rictal vibrissee, directed downwards and forwards. 
Another smaller patch of similar vibrissee, but directed upwards, 
springs, as in S¢eatornis, from the interramal skin of the lower jaw just 
behind the mandibular symphysis. 
Dr. Murie has so elaborately described the osteology of Todus 
viridis that I have not much to add to his account. 
