152 



APPENDIX. 



lines 



Length of pelvis 14 No. of cervical vertebrae, wanting. 



Breadth posteriorly 8^ dorsal ditto, wanting. 



anteriorly 4 sacral ditto 9 



Length of sternum 91 caudal ditto, wanting. 



Breadth of ditto 7 



in the narrowest part 5^ 



Depth of keel 2^ 



Length of coracoids 71 



Breadth of scapula in the widest part 1 



Remarks : — Both this and the foregoing bird are most curious ; it is difficult to say in what 

 order they ought to be placed, the external form being equally ambiguous with the internal 

 structure. 



The digestive organs nearly agree with that of many insessorial birds ; the pelvis also approaches 

 nearly in form to that of the thrush; the sternum, however, differs altogether from any form found 

 in that order, and is precisely that of a Picus. The coracoids are lengthened ; the os furcatum is 

 furnished with only a slight process where it approaches the sternum, in which particulars, also in 

 the form of the ribs, it agrees with the Picidce. 



Having found the internal structure so curious, and so contrary to what I expected, I was led 

 to examine the external more minutely than I had before done. The same form of claw is found 

 in several species among the cuckoos, in the genus Pelophilus, for instance ; the two outer toes 

 are zygodactyle, being united together as far as the first joint ; the bill, at first sight, might be 

 taken for that of a gallinaceous bird ; but in searching among the order Scansores, for some resem- 

 blance, I find the same structure in several of the cuckoo family, with the exception of the nostrils 

 being nearer to the apex of the bill in Pterotochos. The Australian genus Menura is, probably, 

 allied to this, but differs in the structure of the nostrils.* 



SYNALLAXIS MALUROIDES. D'Orb. (Female.) 

 Tongue pointed, furnished at the base with two strong spines, the sides of which are armed with 

 smaller ones ; trachea, oesophagus, and proventriculus as in Furnarius and Uppucerthia ; gizzard 

 rounded, not very muscular, lined with a slightly hardened smooth coat, and filled with the 

 remains of insects ; intestinal canal of moderate size and length, furnished with two rudimentary 

 cseca. 



inches inches 



Length of oesophagus and proventriculus 1J Length of intestinal canal from gizzard to cloaca 4J 



gizzard I from cseca to cloaca f 



Breadth of ditto ra 



The parts of the skeleton of this bird which I was able to preserve, were more closely allied 

 to the corresponding ones of Troglodytes than to those of any other genus in my possession, but 

 differ in the following particulars : the lateral processes of the sternum bounding the posterior 

 fissures are not so much expanded, consequently the fissures themselves are smaller ; the keel is 

 rather deeper; the portion to which the ribs are attached does not project so far forwards, but the 



* Since the above was in type, I have had, through the kindness of Mr. Gould, an opportunity of examining Menura lyra, 

 and And my former supposition to be correct ; but neither of these genera can be placed among the gallinaceous birds where the 

 latter bird has been arranged by some authors. 



