38 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Suborder Ralli: Raillike Birds, Coots, and Gallinules 



=Paludicolae Baied, Hep. Pacific R. R. Suiv., ix, 1858, 688, 745. 



>Fulicarije Sclatee aud Salvin, Norn. Av. Neotr., 1873, viii, 139 (Ralli+Heli- 



ornithes+Aramidae).— Shaepb, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxiii, 1894, ix, 1 



(RaUi+Heliornithes).— Salvin and Godman, Biol. Centr.-Amer., Ares, iii, 



1903, 314 (RaUi+Heliornlthes). 

 >Fulicariae FtJKBBiNGEE, Unters. Morph. Syst. Vog., 1888, 1235, 1566 



(RaUi+Heliornlthes) . 

 >RaUi American Genithologists' Union, Check-list, 1886, 139 (Ralli+Ara- 



midae).— Beddabd, Struct, and Classif. Birds, 1898, 321 ( Ralli +Heliornithes). 

 =Ralli Shaepe, Rev. Rec. Att. Classif. Birds, 1891, 70. 

 >Ralliforines Ftjebeingee, Unters. Morph. Syst. Vog., 1888, 1566 (Ralli+Heli- 



ornithes+Hemipodii).— Shaepe, Hand-list, i, 1899, xii, 93 (Ralli+Heli- 



ornithes). 

 =Ralliformes Shaepe, Rev. Rec. Att. Classif. Birds, 1891, 70. 

 =Rallidae Gmiow, in Bronn's Thier Reich, Vog., ii, 1891, 182 ; Classif. Vertebr., 



1898, 34 (includes fossil Aptomis, Diaphorapteryx, and Oypsornis). 

 >RaUidae Caetts, Handb. Zool., i, 1868-75, 339 (includes Heliornithidae and 



Aramidae) . 

 =Ralloidea Shttfeldt, Anat. Rec. ix, 1915, 750. 



>Megaloriiithiformes Wbtmore and Muxer (W. DeW.), Auk, xliii, 1926, 342. 

 >Grues Wetmoee, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., Ixxvi, 1930, art. 24, 4 ; Smiths. 



Misc. Coll., Ixxxix, No. 13, 1934, 6 (includes Gruidae) . 



Very small to large holorhinal Gruiformes with basipterygoid 

 processes, supraorbital foramina, and powder downs absent; cervical 

 vertebrae 14 or 15; thigh muscle formula ABXY+ ; caeca long; 

 oil gland tufted (usually)^"; hallux well-developed, nearly incum- 

 bent, and rectrices 10-14, the tail small, soft, not fan-shaped. 



Palate schizognathous ; nares holorhinal; basipterygoid processes, 

 occipital foramina, and supraorbital grooves absent; interorbital 

 septum incomplete (fenestrate) ; lachrymal not joined to ectethmoid, 

 the latter with an upturned process joining frontal bone, leaving a 

 foramen for passage of nerves ; cervical vertebrae 14 or 15 ; no fused 

 dorsal vertebrae; atlas without lateral canals, notched for the 

 odontoid process; sternum with a very long lateral process, the 

 spina externa stemi present, the metasternum 2-notched, clavicles in 

 near relation with both precoracoids and scapula, separated from 

 carina sterni; preacetabulum longer than postacetabulum ; ilia ver- 

 tical in their plane anteriorly; pubes strong, not ankylosed with 

 ischia ; carotids 2 ; caeca long ; ^° crop absent ; stomach a gizzard, the 

 proventriculars zonary; gall bladder present; liver with right lobe 

 longer than left; syrinx tracheobronchial, but intrinsic muscles 

 attached rather far down; thigh muscle formula ABXY+ ; deep 

 flexor tendons usually of type I; tensor patagii brevis without 



" Said to be nude in Porzana Carolina. 

 "" These characters shared by Heliornithes. 



