544 MR. F, E, BEDDARD ON THE [Apr. 21, 
reproduce one or two of the late Mr. Forbes’s sketches in illus- 
tration of the tensores of those birds, which have been but little 
described. The simplest form perhaps is to be seen in Synthlibo- 
rhamphus antiquus. Here (fig. 3) there is but one tendon to the 
Fig. 3. 
Tensores patagii of Synthliborhamphus antiquus. 
a, slip to ulnar side of forearm. 
(From a MS. sketch by the late Mr. Forbes.) 
brevis muscle, which is inserted on to the forearm and passes 
over its muscles to be attached below to the ulna. This single 
tendon appears to correspond to the anterior of the two invariably 
present in Gulls and Limicoline birds: this is to be inferred from 
the fact that it gives off just the merest apology for the wristward 
branch found in those birds; there is no patagial fan connecting 
this tendon with the longus tendon; but a thin tendon runs from 
the longus and is attached to the flexor side of the forearm. 
Firbringer’s figure of these tendons in Alcea torda shows no trace 
of this peculiar slip; but it seems to occur at least in the majority 
of the Alcidee. Its presence and the rudimentary character of the 
wristward branch of the main tendon of the brevis are the special 
peculiarities of the patagial tendons in the Alcide. There are, 
however, as many as three separate tendons all running parallel in 
some species. In Lunda (see fig. 4), Ceratorhina (fig. 5), Brachy- 
vhamphus, and Uria this is the case. In Fratercula and Alca 
there are only two. In a few species (in Fratercula for instance) 
where there is a patagial fan, a small ossicle as in the Petrels is 
developed. It seems clear, therefore, that the patagial muscles of 
the Alcidz do not on the whole favour the close relationship of the 
Alcidz to any other Limicoline birds, the resemblance to the Gulls 
