20 MR. F. E. BEDDARD ON THE [Jan. 6, 



Rhinochetus with Eurypyga and Psophia as a subfamily {Psophiince) 

 of the Craues. In his paper on the Osteology of the Kagu [7] more 

 stress was laid upon the Ardeine affinities as exhibited in the skull. 

 Prof. Parker's views are summed up in the concluding paragraph, 

 which is as follows : — 



" In summing up the affinities of the Kagu, I may say that my 

 view of it is that it is a generalized Crane, that it is nearer of kin to 

 Eurypyga than to Psophia, the latter coming near to the Balearic 

 Crane, vihWst Eurypyga, like the Kagu, makes a very rear approach 

 to the Night Herons amongst the typical Ardeinae. The Kagu is 

 related to the Eails ; but so, indeed, are all the Gruinae ; and 

 Professor Huxley has, with great sagacity, put both these families 

 into one group, and has called the group the Geranomorphse." 



Garrod [19] discovered that Rhinoclietus possessed, of the leg- 

 muscles used by him in classification, the ambiens, femorocaudal, 

 semitendinosus, and accessory semitendinosus ; its formula therefore 

 is written AXY + . In his scheme of classification Rhinochetus is 

 not mentioned, but it may be inferred that it would have been 

 placed among the Charadriiformes, a group which includes the 

 Cranes, Gulls, and Limicolse. 



Mr. W. A. Forbes [22] associated together Rhinochetus, Mesites, 

 and Eurypyga into a single family of his group Pluviales, which 

 corresponds to the non-columbine Charadriiformes of Garrod. 



Dr. Gadow [16], from a study of the intestinal convolutions, was 

 led to believe that Rhinochetus should be placed in the near neigh- 

 bourhood of Eurypyga and Heliornis ; it shows " Ralline, Limicoline, 

 and Ibis-like features"; but he finds no affinities with the 

 Herodiones. 



Dr. Murie's important paper [8] is illustrated by two plates, in 

 which many of the details of the anatomy of the bird are well 

 shown ; it is compared with Eurypyga on the one hand and with 

 Cancroma on the other ; the descriptions show that the affinities 

 are closer to the former than to the latter genus. 



Prof. Newton [17] is inclined to compare Rhinochetus with the 

 Limicolse, but to doubt the nearness of its connection with Eurypyga ; 

 he suggests a suborder " Grues" which might consist of the families 

 Eurypygidse, Rhinochetidae, Gruidse, Psophiidae, and Aramidae. 



Dr. Fiirbringer's [15] opinions are presented in a graphic form in 

 the elaborate pedigree diagrams which accompany his work on the 

 classification of birds. He does not accept, any more than does Prof. 

 Newton, Mr. Sclater's group Alectorides [18]. His Gruiformes, 

 however, which equals Prof. Newton's Grues with the addition of 

 the Cariamidae, only differs from Mr. Sclater's Alectorides in not 

 including the Otididae. Among the Gruiformes, Eurypyga is the 

 type which comes nearest to Rhinochetus, but is nevertheless suf- 

 ficiently different to be placed in a distinct family. Affinities with 

 the Herodii are admitted. 



The facts recorded in the present paper do not lend much support 

 to the Ardeine affinities of Rhinochetus, though the presence of 

 powder-downs and certain points in the structure of the skull seem 



