MYOTHERINE. — ANALOGIEFS. 31 
with the principal divisions or subfamilies of the shrikes 
(Laniade). 
Subfamilies of Genera of the 
Analogies. 
the LANnraDa. MYOTHORINZ, 
Laniane. . Bill short, curved from the base. Pitta. 
Thamnophiline. Bill long, curved only at the end. Myothera. 
Hind toe and claw lengthened ; tail 
Dicrurine. 5 ending in slender Bemis ‘ mouth  atyoptonus 
strongly bristled. 
Ceblepyrine. ee particularly soft ; moe Cinclu x 
sabe 3 Base of the bill depressed, the tip 
Tyrannine. abruptly hooked ; mouth bristled. tb asycephala. 
The value of this last table is twofold ; for not only 
does it demonstrate the natural series of the Myotherine, 
but likewise that of the Laniade@, or shrike family. 
The speculative theory, therefore, about the Tham- 
nophiline being that aberrant group which connects 
the shrikes with the thrushes— built, as it was, 
upon a mere supposition — must be given up. How, 
then, it may be asked, can we reconcile this circular 
succession of affinities with the indisputable fact, that 
the Thamnophiline blend so insensibly into the Myo- 
therine that no ornithologist can separate them? Our | 
reply is, that in proportion to the smallness of any 
circular group, so do its two typical divisions show a 
constant tendency to unite with the two corresponding 
groups in the newt circle; and that this tendency in 
groups, where the species are particularly numerous, is 
carried to such an extreme that a union is. actually 
‘effected. Did our space allow of the digression, we 
could demonstrate this proposition still further in regard 
to the Sylviade, but we now cite this family as an ab- 
solute demonstration of what we have elsewhere stated 
as one of the Pe iee of the same principle of natural 
oo . 
(33.) Before taking leave of the Merulide, their 
analogies deserve particular consideration; since no- 
thing is more calculated to impress us with the harmo- 
Nies of creation, than to contemplate the various modes 
by which nature unfolds her types and symbols. [et 
