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VI. On the Myology of Opisthocomus cristatus. By J. Beswick Perrin, Demonstrator 

 of Anatomy in Owens College, Manchester. 



Eead November 4th, 1873. 



[Plates LXIII.-LXVL] 



X HIS interesting bird has attracted the attention of naturalists from the time of M. 

 L'Herminier, in 1837, a physician in Guadaloupe, who communicated a paper to the 

 Academy of Sciences on the anatomy of certain rare birds, and amongst others of the 

 Hoazin, under the name of Sasa, by whicli it was said to be known to the inhabitants 

 of Guiana^ 



There seems to have been considerable diversity of opinions amongst authors as to 

 what family the Ojjisthocomus belonged to. These have been well summed up by Prof. 

 Huxley in a paper " On the Classification and Distribution of the Alectoromorphm," read 

 before, and published in the '■ Proceedings' of, this Society, May 14th, 1868, as follows : 

 — " L'Herminier is of opinion that the sum of the characters of the bird incline it 

 towards the Gallinaceae. He puts it, with Vieillot and Latreille, in the distinct family 

 of the Dysodes, before the Pigeons and Gallinaceous birds. M. Gervais, on the con- 

 trary, denies that it has any thing to do either with the Gallinaceous birds or with the 

 Pigeons. He considers that it forms part of the great series of ' passeriform birds,' 

 but is so different from the others that it ought to form a separate order in this series, 

 near the Scansores, and " near the Musophagidce, though its affinities with the group 

 may have been exaggerated." Prof. Huxley further states that its peculiarities neces- 

 sitate the placing of the bird in a special division of the Schizognathse. Whatever the 

 true position of this bird may be, there are many peculiarities in structure which are, 

 so far as my knowledge goes, found only in this bird. As regards the muscles of 

 the shoulder-girdle, they are more condensed — and exhibit modifications, though of a 

 minor character — than usually met with in birds. The attitude of the crop, its large 

 size, its peculiar shape, and its still more peculiar nidus at once stamp the bird as one 

 of no common kind^. I could not with any certainty obtain a drawing of the bird in 

 its undissected condition. Having been in spirit so long, a sketch would only have 

 perpetuated a falsity. 



* " Observations faites en Amerique but les moeiirs de differentes especes d'Oiseaux-Mouches, suivies de qucl- 

 quea Notes Anatomiques et de moeurs sur rHoazin, &c. par M. Emile Deville," Revue et llagasin de Zoologie. 

 tome iv. 1852. 



" I must here thank Professor Flower and Mr. Sclater for their kindness in allowing me the privilege of 

 dissecting two beautiful specimens of this bird, obtained in Surinam by Hr. Kappler, of Albina, Maroni River. 



VOL. IX. — PABT VI. December, 1875. 3 b 



