198 STKUCTUEE AND CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS 



chaudi. there are fourteen cervical vertebrae, and four -ribs 

 reach the sternum — a difference v^hich appears to me to 

 justify the separation of the latter into a distinct genus, 

 Sauromarptis. Halcyon smyrnensis agrees in these points 

 with D. gigantea. 



The last cervicals (from 10 ') and the dorsal vertebrae 

 (including the first lumbar) have vs^ell- developed, often 

 bifurcate, sometimes trifurcate haemapophyses. The four- 

 notched sternum has a well-developed spina externa. 

 As Dr. Cunningham has pointed out, the lacrymals of 

 Dacelo are larger than those of Ceryle,^ and, I may add, of 

 Halcyon and Todirhamphus {=Sauropatis). The skulls of 

 the genera above mentioned are remarkable for the fact that 

 the temporal fossae as nearly as possible meet behind : there 

 is only a slight bridge dividing them. The lacrymal, 

 moreover, dilates into a wide plate, with a notch, on the inner 

 side of which is received the small flat-pointed prefrontal 

 process of the ethmoid. I have observed these skull cha- ' 

 racters in the Coraciidae. The clavicle reaches the scapula 

 and gives off a longish acromial process. The nares are 

 impervious. 



In Sauropatis alhicilla, Dacelo gigantea, Cittura cyanotis, 

 a.nd Pelargopsis (Furbbingbe) the tensores patagii have 

 the somewhat complicated aiTangement shown m the figure 

 (fig. 94). ■ There are two tensor brevis tendons, of which 

 the anterior, after giving off a wristward slip, is continued 

 over the arm to the lower side, fanning out as it goes. 

 There is in all a passeriniform tendinous slip. Dacelo has 

 a muscular pectoralis propatagialis. Sauromarptis Gaudi- 

 chaudi and Sauropatis sanctus are quite similar. There is, 

 in Pelargopsis at least, a tendinous slip from pectoralis I. 

 to both longus and brevis tendons. 



In Gallalcyon rufa (fig. 93) there is a simplification, 

 only the anterior of the two tendons being present ; the 

 passeriniform slip is barely marked. In Alcedo there is a 

 .still further ' degeneration ; ' not only is the passeriniform 



' On CIO there is a paired heemapophyBis in Dacelo. 



2 Shupeldt, ' On the Osteology of Ceryle,' J. AHat. Phys. xviii. p. 279.' 



