604 ME. F. B. meddaud on some points [May 19, 



ditions obtaining in Dacelo '. Prof. Gari-od never carried out the 

 intention expressed in the above quotation. I propose in the 

 present paper to supply this deficiency and to bring before the 

 Society other facts in the anatomy of the group. 



Pterijhsis. 



The Kingfishers have for the most part a tufted oil-gland. But 

 I find that in Cittura cyanoiis and C. sangldrensis the oil-gland is 

 distinctly nude, and I have a note by Mr. Forbes to the effect that 

 that is also the case vvitli three species of Tanysiptera. In the 

 latter genus, moreover, there are only ten rect rices ; in other 

 Kingfishers (including Cittura) twelve. 



According to Dr. Gadow's table ^ the AlcedinidsB and Cypselidaj 

 are the only families of Picarian birds in which the 5th cubital 

 reraex may be either absent or present. 



Dacelo, Ceryle, and Saiiropatis are aquintocubital ; Cittura, Alcedo, 

 and Halcyon are quintocubital. 



The feather-tracts of a few species have been examined by 

 Nitzsch. I have studied those of a few others. In the majority of 

 Kingfishers the ventral tract branches in the pectoral region on 

 each side into a stronger outer and a weaker inner branch, the 

 latter being continuous as far as the cloaca. Nitzsch remarks of 

 "A. collaris" {=--Sauropatis cJiloi-is) that it is " strikingly distin- 

 guished by having the outer branch of the inferior tract very near 

 the main stem." I find that a broad pectoral tract, barely, if at 

 all, distinguishable into two branches, characterizes the following 

 species of Sauropatis, viz. : S. sordidus, S. vagans, and S. chloris ; 

 it is very possibly a mark of the genus. 



In this genus, as in Dacelo (figured by Nitzsch), in Halcyon and 

 in Cittura there is a very long gap sparsely feathered which lies 

 between the anterior and posterior closely feathered parts of the 

 spinal tract. In Alcedo ispida, on the other hand, the trunk part 

 of the spinal tract is closely feathered throughout. I find in 

 Ceryle americana an intermediate condition, the dorsal gap being 

 but slightly marked. , 



It will be observed that these various divergences in the 

 arrangement of the pterylie correspond in every case to a missing 

 5th remex. 



Tendons of the Wing. 



The tendons of the tensor patagii brevis show three modifica- 

 tions among the Kingfishers, which are shown in the accompanying 

 drawings (figs. 1-3) by the late Mr. W. A. Forbes. 



In Alcedo ispida, Fiirbringer (Unters. z. Morph. u. Syst. Vcigt-l, 

 Taf. xxiii. fig. 17), we have the simplest conditions. The tendon in 

 question is perfectly simple, without branch or complication of any 

 kind. Alcyone lessoni is precisely the same. 



' Ihid. p. 51«. 



' " Aves" in Bronn'a ' Tliier- Reich,' Syst. Tbeil, p. 83. 



