'sittacus, 



5 : 5 



6-4 



7-0 



4-5 



6-4 



21 



41 



INTRODUCTION. xxxvil 



The femur and tibia are both shorter in proportion to the length of the tarso-metatarsus 

 in Lorius, while the third digit of the pes is not, as in Psittacus, nearly so long as the 

 femur : — 



Lorius. 



Length of the humerus 3-4 



„ „ ulna 3 - 8 



,, „ manus 4 - 7 



Length of the femur 3 - 5 



„ „ tibia 49 



„ „ tarso-metatarsus P9 



,, „ third digit 29 



The only muscle which seems to require notice here is the ambiens — a small, but long, 

 fusiform muscle running from above the acetabulum to the inner side of the knee, which it 

 crosses in front to unite with a muscle of the calf flexing the toes. Though present in the 

 typical Parrot (Psittacus erithacus), in the Macaws, the Nestors, Stringops, and a few other 

 genera, it is absent in most Parrots, and it is also absent in the Loriidce so far as they have 

 been examined *. We have had no opportunity of examining genera in addition to those 

 previously examined by the late Professor Garrod, P. U.S. 



The same is the case as regards the carotid arteries, which were found by Professor Garrod t 

 to be, in the genera Chalcopsittacus, Eos, Lorius, CoripMlus, and Trichoglossus, normally 

 disposed — that is to say, there were two carotids of equal, or nearly equal, size running up 

 the front of the neck. This is not by any means an exclusive character of the Loriidce, as 

 the same condition obtains in many Patceomithmce $ ; such, however, is not the case in the 

 Nestors, in Psittacus, and in many Conurince, Pionince, and Platycercince. 



"We have not been able to ascertain any facts tending to throw light on the relations of 

 the Loriidce to past time ; their relations to space, however, are very interesting, and the 

 extent and nature of the divergences existing between inhabitants of different islands may 

 hereafter help to throw light on the former union of portions of land now separated, as is the 

 case in the Galapagos Archipelago and the West Indian Islands. 



* See Prof. Garrod's paper on Parrots, P. Z. S. 1874, pp. 586-598. 

 t P. Z. S. 1874, pp. 588, 589 ; and 1876, pp. 691, 692. 

 X Put not in Pyrrhidopsis. 



