256 MR. W. K. PARKER ON THE OSTEOLOGY [NoV. 25, 



" The Gemitores might stand as tliey are, as to the examples given; 

 but they are not Rasores. 



" In the same lecture in which the ' classification ' is given, the 

 Notornis is said to be ' allied to the Coots,' and the Cassowaries 

 * still more modified Coots.' 



" This seems to me to be an inversion of the natural order of 

 things ; for the Cassowary, every one knows, is in all respects typi- 

 cally struthious in its whole skeleton, but is most decisively seen to 

 be so in its cranium and facial bones ; and all the Struthiones are 

 low, embryonic, unspecialized forms. 



" That there is a near relationship between the Rail-tribe and the 

 Ostriches I feel certain ; but the former seem to me to stand on the 

 same level typically (or in relation to the highest style of bird) as the 

 Rasorial group, and in some respects on a higher one ; but I would 

 not press this too far, as the skulking habits of these birds seem to 

 point to a lower brain-development than even the Fowl possesses, 

 and to place them in near contiguity to the Ostriches : moreover 

 Brachypteryx is, in respect of its wings and sternum, but little in ad- 

 vance of the great ' Brevipennes.' Cranially, however, it is in ad- 

 vance ; and it seems to be a more philosophical way of putting the 

 matter to say that a Coot is a modified Cassowary, than that a Cas- 

 sowary is a modified Coot. Whether Mr. Darwin is right in all 

 respects or not, yet we all believe with him that nature does not re- 

 trograde, but ascends from the simpler to the more highly specialized 

 forms. 



" I shall not take up either the Society's time or my own in merely 

 arguing about these puzzling aflfinities, but hope soon to be able to 

 bring forward some simple drawings and descriptions, such as shall 

 enable any one to judge for himself as to what type these birds really 

 do belong. 



"I intend moreover in my larger paper to consider the relationships 

 of Oreophasis derhianus. 



" But the birds hitherto mentioned are all easily referred to their 

 proper zoological position ; those, however, of which it is my prin- 

 cipal business to speak stand just above the Struthionidce, in such 

 a doubtful position that it is at first hard to say whether they have 

 declared for any one of the families by which they are surrounded. 



" The Sand-Grouse, the Hemipodes, and the Tinamous have in 

 their composition such a mixture of characters, that they seem to be 

 the very birds which might in the lapse of ages, through climatal 

 change, a different diet, ' the struggle for existence,' and ' natural 

 selection ' give rise to such divaricating and dissimilar types as the 

 Pigeons, the Gallinaceous birds, and the Plovers. 



" These last-mentioned families are those the characters of which 

 the osculant forms under consideration most affect, with, let it be 

 remembered, a more or less broad struthious basis. 



" There are other genera, however, the osteology of which I long 

 to know, viz. Thinocorus, Attagis, and Chionis. i 



"Speaking of these birds, Mr, Darwin, in his most pleasant 

 'Journal' (ch. 5, p. 94), makes the following remarks : — 



