CHASMOEHYNCHUS.— QUEEULA. 143 



sent from Boca del Toro on the Atlantic side of the Cordillera of Panama ^, and many 

 specimens have since been forwarded from CostaEica and the Colombian State of Panama. 

 Our specimens from the former country were mostly obtained by Arce at Tucurriqui, 

 at an elevation of about 3000 feet above the sea, but one secured by M. Boucard was 

 killed on the slopes of the Volcan de Irazu at a height of 6000 feet above the sea. 

 Our series includes males in all stages of development, from which it would appear 

 that the caruncles commence their growth on the assumption of the adult plumage, 

 and that they acquire their full development almost before the fully adult feathers are 

 assumed, showing that their growth must be very rapid. The upper caruncle from the 

 base of the bill first shows itself, the rictal ones appearing later and growing unevenly. 

 In Wolf's plate, accompanying the paper in ' The Ibis ' for 1865, the caruncles are 

 represented as flat and stifi" ; we doubt if they are ever so, but when relaxed are vermi- 

 form and hang loosely downwards. 



Subfam. GYMNOBERINJE. 



Gymnoderus, from which this subfamily takes its name, is a bird of a very isolated 

 character, and its relationship to Hcematoderus, Cephalopterus, and the other genera 

 with which it has been generally associated is not at all obvious. After the removal 

 of Chasmorhynclius from the Gymnoderinse, Gymnoderus is the only genus in which the 

 rictal bristles appear to be wholly absent. The bUl cannot strictly be called " corvine," 

 and the flanks have large white powder-down patches similar to those found in the 

 Herons ! no such character, so far as we know, being possessed by any other passerine 

 bird. Querula and Cephalopterus, the two genera of Gymnoderinae with which we 

 are now concerned, belong to the section in which the rictal bristles are strongly 

 developed. The bill is strong and conforms more to the corvine outline said to be 

 characteristic of the subfamily, the lores are densely feathered. So different are these 

 birds from Gymnoderus that we think they, with Hcematoderus and Pyroderus, had 

 better be separated as : — 



Subfam. QUEBULINM 



QUEEULA. 



Quei-ula, Vieillot, Anal. p. 37 (1816) ; Scl. Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xiv. p. 396. 



A single species constitutes this genus, which has a wide range, extending from 

 Costa Eica southward to Peru and eastward to Guiana. 



The bill is stout, rather wide at the base, the sides converging in nearly straight 

 lines to the tip, the culmen is curved throughout its length, more abruptly towards the 

 end, and there is a distinct subterminal notch on the tomia of the maxilla ; the nostrils 

 are open, but partially hidden by the setose supra-nasal feathers, the rictal bristles are 



