224 BULLETIN 5 0, IFNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



World, u, 1934, 212.— Bond, Birds West Indies, 1936, 95 (Hispaniola, 

 Puerto Rico, Culebra, St. Croix, St. John, AnguUla, St. Barts?, St. Kitts, 

 Montserrat, Barbuda, Antigua, Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Lucia", St. 

 Vincent?, Barbados?, the Grenadines and Grenada, apparently no definite 

 records for Cuba, Jamaica, and Bahamas) ; Auk, Ivi, 1939, 194 (Montserrat, 

 Dec. 31, 1929; specimen). • 



Fuliea oariiaea major Danfobth, Auk, xlii, 1925, 561 (Cartagena Lagoon, 

 Puerto Rico) ; Joum. Dept. Agr. Puerto Rico, x, 1926, 62-65, figs. 30-31 

 (Cartagena Lagoon; habits). 



Suborder Heliornithes : Finfoots or Sun-grebes 



=Heliomithoide8e Stejneger, Stand. Nat. Hist., Iv, 1885, 68, in text. 

 >Fulicari8e Fokbbingeb, Unters. Morph. Syst. Vog., 1888, 1235 (Includes 



Ralli). 

 >Geranomorphse Sclatee and Salvin, Nom. Av. Neotr., 1873, viil, 139 (includes 



Ralli and Aramidse). — Salvin and Godman, Biol. Centr.-Amer., Aves, iii, 



1903, 314 (includes Ralli and Grues). 

 XRalliformes Shabpe, Rev. Rec. Att. Classif. Birds, 1891, 70 ( Ralli +"Podicse," 



that is, Podicid8e=Heliomithida^e, part). — Shufeldt, Anat. Rec, ix, 1915, 



606 (Ralli+HeUornithes+Aramidee). 

 >Ralliformes Shttfeldt, Anat. Rec, ix, 1915, 606 (Ralli+Heliornithes+Ara- 



midse). 

 >Ralloide8e SHTnTEi-DT, Anat. Rec, ix, 1915, 606 (Ralli+Heliornithes+ 



Aramidae). 

 <Heliornitluformes Shaepe, Rev. Rec Att. Classif. Birds, 1891, 70 (excludes 



Heliornithidse, part, that is, genus Podica) . 

 <Heliornithes Shabpe, Rev. Rec Att. Classif. Birds, 1891, 70 (excludes Heli- 



ornithidse, part). 

 =Heliornithoidea Shtjfeldt, Anat. Rec, ix, 1915, 606, 750 (superfamily of sub- 

 order Fulicarise, supersuborder Ralliformes). 

 = Heliornithes Wetmobe and Mtllee, Auk, xliii, 1926, 343. — Wetmoee, Proc. 



U. S. Nat. Mus., Ixsvi, art. 24, 1930, 4; Smiths. Misc Coll., Ixxxix, No. 



13, 1934, 6; xcix. No. 7, 1940, 6.— Pbtees, Check-list Birds of World, ii, 



1934, 213. 



Small or medium-sized aquatic Gruiformes with raillike bill; con- 

 spicuously lobed or scalloped and partially webbed toes ; deep plantar 

 tendons of types II or X; accessory semitendinosus muscle absent; 

 mostly to completely feathered tibia; neck rather long, and slender 

 through shortness of the soft feathering, and tail much more than 

 half as long as wing, much rounded, with 18 or more rigid rectrices. 



Palate schizognathous; nares schizorhinal, pervious; basipterygoid 

 processes, occipital foramina, and temporal fossae absent; cervical 

 vertebrae, 15-17; dorsal vertebrae heterocoelous ; complete ribs (reach- 

 ing sternum) 6; sternum elongated, its keel low, the metasternum 

 2-notched; spina externa well-developed (at least in Podica); epi- 

 sternal process not perforated to receive feet of coracoids; clavicles 

 with anterior and posterior interclavicular processes, the latter firmly 

 attached to keel of sternum ; ischia broader and directed more down- 

 ward than in the Ealli, the pubes ankylosed, at least at one point, with 



