30 MR. W. P. PYCRAFT OX THE [Maj 2, 



3. Contributions to the Osteology of Birds. — Part VII.* 

 EurylcemidcB ; with Remarks on the Systematic Position 

 o£ the Group. By W. P. Pycraft, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. 



[Received March 30, 1905.] 

 (Plate II. t and Text-figm-es 13-15.) 



Contents. 



i. Introductorv Remarks, p. 30. 



ii. The Skull of the Adult, p. 30. 

 iii. The Skull of the Nestling, p. 40. 

 iv. The Vertebral Cohimn, p. 43. 



V. The Ribs, p. 45. 



vi. The Sternum and Shoulder-girdle, 

 p. 45. 



vii. The Pelvic Girdle, p. 48. 

 viii. The Pectoral Limb, p. 48. 

 ix. The Pelvic Limb, p. 49. 

 X. Summary, p. 50. 



xi. List of Literature referred to, p. 56. 

 xii. Explanation of Plate II., p. 56. 



i. Introductory Remarks. 



The present paper is intended to form the first of a series on 

 the osteology of the Passeres, and, in order to increase its value 

 to the systematist, characters other than osteological will be 

 discussed where necessary. By this means it is hoped that that 

 most difficult of ornithological problems — the classification of the 

 Passeres — will be materially aided. 



The labours of Garrod, Forbes, and Flirbringer have resulted in 

 the accumulation of a considerable pile of facts concerning the 

 soft parts of the Eurykemidae, but comparatively little has been 

 done in the way of osteology. 



My work, it may be as well to state here, has been hampered 

 by paucity of material, since several genera are entirely 

 unrepresented in the Collection of the British Museum (Natural 

 History). Doubtless these gaps will be filled in course of time, 

 and the lacvtnse, unavoidable in this contribution, can then be filled 

 up. Skeletons of nestlings are especially wanted. 



ii. The Skull of the Adult. 



The skull of the Eurylsemidaj is i-emarkable for the extreme 

 specialisation which it displays, though these birds are of an 

 undoubtedly primitive type. That changes so considerable as 

 are here to be noticed should have taken place in the skull is 

 unfoi-tunate, since thereby valuable evidence on questions of 

 ancestiy has been lost. 



It is not an easy matter to express exactly what are the 

 chai'acteristic features of the Euiylsemid skull, or, rather, it is not 

 easy to set down diagnostic characters, since it presents considerable 

 and often wide difierences in different genera. Superficially it 



* For Part VI. see P. Z. S. 1903, vol. i. p. 258. 

 f For explanation of the Plate, see p. 56. 



