234 
EHRYLAIMUS. 
not protect the nostrils, whose situation and form is 
various in the subordinate types. The feet cannot 
be termed small or delicate, yet they are obviously 
of a weak construction, and adapted only for seden- 
tary habits ; their colour is always pale, and their 
structure completely syndactyle; the hind toe is 
proportionably very long, and equals the length of 
the tarsus, which latter is often without any pos- 
terior or lateral scales. Now there is no example 
of a foot, so constructed, in all the other genera of 
this family, except Megalop/tus, which, in like man- 
ner, has a large portion of the tarsus equally naked ; 
while the proportionate length of all the claws is 
the same in both. Megalophm, in short, is the 
connecting link between the Eurylaimince and the 
Muscicapmce ; and we may now proceed to con- 
sider the former more in detail. 
That natural groups, of the same rank, are very 
often vastly disproportionate in their extent, has 
been frequently observed ; and upon another occa- 
sion we have attempted to show, that such numerical 
disproportion is absolutely essential to the harmony 
and consistency of the creation*. Now the group 
before us is another striking example of this ine- 
quality. Were it an imperfect circle, and were we 
unacquainted with those forms which connect it on 
both sides to other types, strong doubts might be 
reasonably entertained if a group, containing so 
few species, really represented a sub-family, and 
deserved to be placed in the same rank with the 
* Classification of Animals, p. 247 . 
