August 5, 1887.] 



SCIENCE. 



These parts are quite similar in the red-breasted grosbeak {Habia 

 ludoviciana) ; but the upper portion of cucullarh is wider, appar- 

 ently reaching the dorso-medial line, and is not so distinct from 

 the skin. The propatagial slip is quite strong, and blends with the 

 tendon of /. propaiagii longus farther towards the metacarpus, 

 although not distinct so far as in the swallow figured by Dr 

 Shufeldt. 



-Dorsal View of the Patagial Muscles of a Woodpecker, Colaptes 



AURATUS (dissected AND DRAWN BY THE PRESENT WrITER). 



Fig. 2. — Corresponding Parts of a Parrot, Amazona leucocephala (dissected 

 THE Present Writer). 

 </»/, tensor propatagii longus ; tpb, tensor propatagii brevis ; ta, temporo-alaris, or 

 tpc, pars propatagialis m. cucullaris ; b, biceps; t, triceps; h, humerus- etnrl, 

 extensor metacarpi radialis longus. (Both figures one-third natural size.) ' 



From the arrangement as I find 'it in a young flicker {Colaptes 

 auratus), to that of the fully detached temporo-alaris of Lophorma, 

 there is but a very short step, as will be seen from the accompany- 

 ing figure (Fig. i). The insertion on /. propatagii long-us is more 

 distal, however, than in Lophorina. 



On the other hand, the case of Amazona leucocephala ( Fig. 2) 

 is more like that of Habia ; but here again there is a difference in 

 regard to the insertion of the tendon, it being more pro.ximal in the 

 parrot, though not so much so as in Lophorina. 



From Dr. Shufeldt 's description, it would seem as if, in the swal- 

 lows at least, the temporal part of the muscle has become obsolete, 

 — an arrangement corresponding e.xactly to that which Mr. Viallane 

 found in the cockatoos. 



In Lophorina sitperba, as shown by Mr. Viallane, the posterior 



71 



end of cucullaris is the portion that has become obsolete. The 

 parapatagial slip is here strongly developed, and the junction with 

 propatagialis longus takes place rather close to the shoulder. 



Dr. Shufeldt claims that this muscle in question is ' wholly ab- 

 sent ' in the kingbird {Tyratmus tyranniis). In this case, also, I 

 am forced to disagree. Upon dissecting a bird of this kind, I find 

 the propatagial slip of cucullaris present, but it does not insert 

 itself on propatagialis longus, nor does it develop any tendon at 

 its distal termination. It inserts itself, however, on the skin just 

 where it overlies the fleshy portion of propatagialis longus. As 

 in the other birds examined, it follows the free margin of the para- 

 patagium. 



In a young Sayornis phcebe the arrangement is essentially the 

 same, though less distinctly developed, only a few muscular fibres- 

 being traceable. 



A cuckoo {Coccyzus erythrophthalmics) gave a similar result. 

 The whole m. cucullaris was exceedingly thin, with the fibres 

 greatly disconnected. 



Returning to those species in which the propatagial slip joins the 

 tensor propatagii longus, \^\'i\i to record the fact, that both in 

 Passer and Habia I found the propatagial portion of m. cucullaris 

 to give off a slight muscular slip to the base of the humeral feather- 

 tract, the feathers of which it probably helps to raise. 



This leads to the question as to the function of the propatagial 

 slip. In the first place, it acts as a tensor parapatagii. When 

 particularly developed in its proximal portion, as in Lophorina, it 

 also raises the elongated neck-feathers, while special development 

 of its tendineal portion aids in strengthening the tensor propatagii. 

 The fact that it occurs similarly developed in so distantly related' 

 groups as the parrots, the woodpeckers, and the acromyodian 

 Passeres (or Oscines) robs it, to a great extent, of its taxonomic 

 value ; even were it proven to be present in all the latter, and ab- 

 sent in all the mesomyodi, of which we are by no means sure. The 

 example, however, which Dr. Shufeldt adduces to show its im- 

 portance, is not a very fortunate one ; for no ornithologist who 

 knows that Ampelis, the waxwing, and the cedar-bird have lamini- 

 plantar tarsus, rudimentary tenth primary, and acromyodian (os- 

 cinine) syrinx, has had any excuse for suspecting, during the last 

 forty-five years, that its " clamatorial characters " are " predominat- 

 ing in its organization." 



Since the above was placed in the hands of the publisher, Dr. 

 Shufeldt has corrected (Science, July 29) the mistake in regard ta 

 Rhamphastos being a passerine bird, — a mistake which he said 

 was caused by circumstances beyond his control. It is a matter of 

 congratulation that he also presents a new drawing of the propata- 

 gian muscles of the swallows, in which he corrects the mistake of 

 the former drawing, which represented the swallows as having a 

 tensor propatagii brevis with an insertion similar to that of the 

 picarian Rhamphastos. Leonhard StejneGER. 



Smithsonian Inst., Washington, D.C., July 22. 



Cause of Consumption. 



In the number of your journal for July 8 my respected friend, 

 Dr. Donaldson, has a compact article on the cause of consump- 

 tion. I agree to every word of it, but would suggest that he has 

 not named one influence which for many years I have held to be a 

 most potent one in New England, and also in Old England, in the 

 development of that terrible disease ; viz., residence upon a damp 

 soil. This factor was first proved to be a powerful one in Massa- 

 chusetts in 1862. Three years subsequently it was proved still 

 more conclusively to exist in England by Dr. Buchanan, medical 

 officer of the Local Government Board of that country. So far as I 

 know, nothing has been done to prove or disprove whether it pre- 

 vails over the whole world, or only on certain portions of it. I be- 

 lieve, from facts which I have already learned, that it is really a 

 cosmic law. As it is desirable that it should be proved or disproved 

 in this wide sense, I would respectfully suggest it as a subject 

 worthy of the appointment of a world's commission, consisting of 

 an able man from every country that may be represented in the 

 International Medical Congress, which is to be held in Washington 

 this autumn. 



My professional experience since the law was first found to be 



