TODUS. — THE FIVE SUBGENERA. | 87 
connection to Conopophaga is equally demonstrated by 
the Platystera syndactyla Sw., an African bird in the 
British Museum, having merely the rudiments of a 
tail, with very short, unequal, and syndactyle lateral. 
toes. The circle of Todus is thus complete ; and we 
shall now see, by placing them pu fpestier, how it agrees 
with the genus Muscicape : 
LU el i ao 
_/ MUSCICAPA 
Wn <= wo cece mee marageececosemssoccesescsssscnea a8 ee eee wee ta we a ecceseceensosenannees* 
Platyrhynchus Mytagra 
Conopophaga Muscicap 
(100.)The longest bills among the Muscicapeare found 
in the typical group ; and so, also, are the longest among 
the todies. Several of the flycatchers in the subgenus 
Myiagra are to this day described as species of Platy- 
rynchus by modern authors, notwithstanding their only 
“resemblance consists in the wnusual breadth and shortness 
of their bills. Conopophaga and Muscicapa have the 
bill small, and but slightly dilated, although they are 
both remarkable for their length of leg. Platystera and 
Hyliota agree in having the ridge of their bills, or the | 
culmen, elevated, and in the outer half being often 
‘ compressed: their whole appearance, also, is more like 
to each other than to their own types. Lepturus and 
Seicircus differ from all their congeners, by their elon- 
_ gated fan-shaped tails. If, as we strongly suspect, 
Rhipidura is not a genus, but a subgenus, of Musci- 
capa (in which case it would take the place of Seicircus 
in the above circle), the analogy would be equally 
perfect, because Lepturus, no less than Rhipidura, is 
unquestionably a rasorial type. To place this beyond all 
doubt, it is only necessary to compare the subgenera of 
| G 4 
