9 



portion flattened out into thin blades, but further towards the tip they become extremely 

 thin and flexible. None of these barbules carry barbicels like those which in typical 

 contour-feathers are transformed into cilia and hamuli or hooklets, but these barbules 

 show at regular intervals a great number of peculiarly shaped and pointed nodules. 

 The absence of such hooks prevents the barbules from forming a coherent vane, and 

 renders the whole feather extremely soft and fluffy. The barbules of the more distal 

 or marginal parts of the long barbs are shorter and thicker, and their nodules are 

 less prominent. 



The metatarsus is covered in front with five or six irregularly shaped transverse 

 scales, which have a tendency to fuse with each other. All these scales overlap the 

 lateral side of the metatarsus, and by complete fusion form one long continuous scute. 

 The median side is covered by one similar scute, which is separated from the front row 

 by a soft furrow. On the back of the metatarsus the median scales project as a 

 prominent but somewhat soft ridge, which is connected with the lateral sheathing by 

 soft skin. 



Alimentary canal. — The oesophagus has no crop. The stomach is comparatively 

 small, oval, and furnished with strong muscles : in the specimens examined it contained 

 Lepidopterous larvae, hard pupa-cases, and other remnants of insects. The gut is of 

 uniform width and soft ; 1*5 centim. from the anus are two rudimentary caeca of 

 0-4 centim. in length. The total length of the gut from the stomach to the anus is 

 14-5 centim., its relative length only 3*5 ; in accordance with this very short relative 

 length, the intestinal convolutions are very simple, forming only three short alternating 

 loops, of which the second or middle loop shows no indication of a spiral twist. The 

 proportions of the right and left lobes of the liver are 3:2. 



Summary. — Acrulocercus nobilis and A. braccatus belong to the group Cinnyrimorphse, 

 judging from the serrated bill, the strongly developed nasal operculum, the principal 

 features of the pterylosis (especially the functional tenth primary and the presence of 

 axillary tufts), the scutellation of the tarsus, and the simplicity of the intestinal canal. 

 They further belong to the family Meliphagidse, owing to the quadruple brush-like 

 tongue; they approach the subfamilies Myzomelinse and Meliphaginse proper, and of 

 the latter the genera Meliphaga, Meliornis, Acanthorhynchus, and Acanthochcera ; in 

 other words, they are more nearly related to the Australian than to either the Malayan 

 or to the Pacific members of the group. Acrulocercus differs from them all, however, 

 in its pattern of colour (bearing in this respect a striking resemblance to Drepanis 

 pacified), although black, yellow, and white are favourite colours among the Melipha- 

 ginse (e. g. Meliphaga, Meliornis, and above all Pogonornis). The long and much 

 graduated tail of Acrulocercus can scarcely be looked upon as an important deviation 

 from the generally square or only slightly rounded tail of the Meliphaginse, since it 

 occurs also in the genus Acanthoclicera of South Australia. The peculiarly pointed 

 tail-feathers of Acrulocercus occur again in Drepanis pacifica, and in the New Zealand 

 genus Pogonornis. 



