17^ 



MERULlDiE, 



incorporate, as usual, such species as have been already 

 described. I have also added, under the modern 

 genera, the descriptions of some newly described 

 species. 



The genus Tanypus of Oppel is omitted in the 

 following account of this family, as I have been unable 

 to obtain its characters. In the present confused state 

 of the Insessorial birds, the omission is probably of 

 little consequence ; especially as the name itself cannot 

 be retained, it having long been pre-occupied in En- 

 tomology. 



GENUS LXXXIL— FORMICiVORA, Swainson. ANT- WREN. 



Rostrum mediocre subcylin- 



draceura, gonyde recta ; 



vibrissas nullse. 

 Alee breves rotundatae, re- 



mex quarta vel quinta lon- 



gissima. 

 Cauda ssepe gradata. 

 Tarsi mediocres, graciles ; 



squamis lateralibus fre- 



quentibus. 



Myothera jpars, Temminct. 



Beah moderate, subcylindric, 

 the gonix straight ; no 

 bristles. 



Wings short, rounded, the 

 fourth or fifth quill long- 

 est. 



Tail often graduated. 

 Tarsi moderate, slender, with 

 numerous lateral scales. 



The birds of this genus are all South American, 

 and, as their name implies, usually subsist upon ants, 

 thereby being of infinite service in ridding that part 

 of the world of those noxious pests. 



Sp. 1. Fo. maculata. Zool. Jour. {Swain.) ii. 147. 

 Fo. supra aira maculis albis frequentibus interstincta ; irifrh cinei'ea 

 nigro vario ; secundariis apice Julvo ; caudd gradata. 



