CALYPTOMENA VIRIDIS. 



To the preceding description, which is given in the words of Sir Stamford 

 Raffles, I have only to add a few remarks on the illustration of this genus, and on 

 its affinity. Referring therefore to the Plate, in which the characters are given in 

 detail, letter X exhibits the bill as seen from above. It was necessary to give a 

 separate view of this organ, as in the general figure of the bird, every part, except 

 the tip and the margin of the lower mandible, is concealed. The object of this view 

 is more particularly to sheAv the extent of the bill, its outline, and its gradual atten- 

 uation, by means of a slightly arched margin. In the profile, letter Z, the extent 

 of the tubular portion of the nostrils, and their relation to the plumose covering of 

 the upper-mandible is indicated, together with the posterior union of both man- 

 dibles, by which the wide-gaping mouth is formed. The structure of the bill in 

 Calyptomena is, however, essentially different from that of the Hiantes of lUiger, 

 comprising the Goat-suckers and Swallows, which have both a small bill, united 

 to an excessively wide mouth and throat. But in Calyptomena the bill is quite 

 as long as the head, although the posterior portion, including the nostrils, is 

 hid from view by the beautiful plumes of the upper-mandible, which give a sin- 

 gular and highly ornamental appearance to this bird. The structure of the feet and 

 of the toes is distinctly shewn in letter Y. 



Although I have associated Calyptomena with Eurylaimus, which in the Second 

 Number of these Researches has been arranged among the Syndactyles of Cuvier, 

 I have to acknowledge that my ideas regarding its natural affinity are not yet clear. 

 The examination of this genus has again excited the inquiry, whether Eurylaimus, 

 to which it is so nearly related, is with propriety arranged among the Syndactyles of 

 Cuvier. In the structvu*e of the feet these two genera entirely agree : they also both 

 have a wide-gaping mouth, and a bill notched at the extremity ; but in Calyptomena, 

 this organ is much more nearly allied in structure to the bill of the Dentirostres of 

 Cuvier than in Eurylaimus. It greatly resembles the bill of the genera Rupicola, 

 Pipra, Phibalura, Pardalotus, Platyrhynchus, and Procnias. All these birds have 

 further a natural resemblance in the structure of their feet, which consists in an 

 union of the toes, particularly of the outer and middle toe, existing in different 

 degrees, but perhaps most strongly in Calyptomena. The genera above mentioned 

 are arranged, nearly in succession, by the celebrated Temminck, in his extensive 

 order oi Insectivores: it remains, therefore, still to be determined by future inquiries, 

 whether, when more accurately known, they will not be found to constitute a 

 distinct Family among the Passereaux of Cuvier, connecting the Family of Denti- 

 rostres with that of Syndactyles. 



