pfnaenst agate pert taeeayateaee ctor acyeererr aes Tes ( . ee is TRANSACTIONS OF THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. VOLUME XIII. LONDON: PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY : SOLD AT THEIR HOUSE IN HANOVER-SQUARE ; AND BY MESSRS. LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO., PATERNOSTER-ROW. 1895. My ; “eh ereb: eae a Uh ay AG a “ Yosrahe i airett. aS t wikaturalty Fe ah) Til ee eran he Reyes Ara) rc é os ; at ae “ i % ora TH way a ta jit agent i acité } , Nok eee Nae or PRINTED BY TAYLOR AND FRANCIS, ¢ Rey A aks ee _ RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET. ~~ CONTENTS. I. On the Genus Urothoe and a new Genus Urothoides. By the Rev. THomas R. R. STEBBING cA pmo oot coh ay nye: Gk» sig tepe isthe. san as) We Pach es ie cele pOeene II. On four new British Amphipoda. By the Rev. Tuomas R. R. Srespine, M_A., and IDA) JRoriomnsO, JEG, JGR 6 5 een be ee ol Vs Jo go SI III. On the Morphology of a Reptilian Bird, Opisthocomus cristatus. By W. K. ] AT 2 ial Ca an ale gem ne sh Gd ne SIRE Vd is A ER «Sateen WAR Saag ete Re CN ete} IV. Contributions to our Knowledge of the Antipatharian Corals. By F.Jurrrey BELL, M.A., Sec. R.M.S., Corr. Mem. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., F.Z.S., Professor of Comparative Anatomy and Zoology in King’s College, London. . . . . 87 V. Cataloque of the Reptiles and Batrachians of Barbary (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia), based chiefly upon the Notes and Collections made in 1880-1884 by M. Fernand Matasteume bin Gee Ave OULENGE Rial. ys.) eset alone eg Fgincemincn remem mn VI. On a Skull of Trogontherium cuvieri from the Forest Bed of East Runton, near Cromer. By E. T. Newton, F.G.S., P.Z.S., Geological Survey . . . . 165 VII. Contributions to the Anatomy of the Anthropoid Apes. By Frank EK. Bepparp, M.A., Prosector to the Society, and Lecturer on Biology at Guy's Hospital . \77 VIII. On the British Paleogene Bryozoa. By J. W. Grucory, B.Sc., P.Z.S., British NUOSCUTD (NGG. LECT) os Se ae Re is ernie oasetn ac ie 8711!) IX. On additional Bones of the Dodo and other Extinct Birds of Mauritius obtained by Mr. Tufopore Sauzter. By Sir Epwarp Newton, A.C.M.G., P.L.S., CMZS., and ANSI GAD OWay Rhu) ae Ar mE AS EMREK ZS) See ene) a Ol 1V CONTENTS. X. Description of a remarkable new Sea-urchin of the Genus Cidaris from Mauritius. By ¥. Jurvrey Buu, MA., Sec. R.M.S., Pr ee a Comparative Anatomy and Zoology in King’s College. . . . « by ee 2 aye eespases03 XI. On Remains of an Extinct Gigantic Tor toise from Madagascar (‘Testudo grandidietri, Vaillant). eBy Gr AG BOULENGER |e) ¢. ¢-.) 2) (2) ices eee SOe) XIL. On the Remains of some Gigantic Land-Tortoises, and of an extinct Lizard, recently discovered in Mauritius. By Hans Gavow, PhD. M.A, FRS., Lecturer on Advanced Morphology of Vertebrata, and Strickland Curator, Onawensiian Oy CGD s 6 2 8 8 8 8 ee og eg aD XII. A Revision of the Genera of the Alcyonaria Stolonifera, with a Description of one new Genus and several new Species. By SypNey J. Hickson, M.A. Cantab., DSc. Lond., F.Z.S., Fellow of Downing College, Cambridge. . . . . 325 XIV. Descriptions of nine new Species of Amphipodous Crustaceans from the Tropical Atlantic. By the Rev. Toomas R. R. Sveppine, MA. . . . . . 849 XV. On the Cranial Osteology, Classification, and Phylogeny of the Dinornithide. By T. Jerrery Parker, D.Sc., PAS. ree He noe in the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand . . . . : Be eee ae OMS, list otathesPaners:contaimedsin| Viol-eXelies eo at ee lS ImdextoniSpecies: Occ... We BY AR a SE ea) at kia an ao TRAINS AL Cue 1. ON Ss OF THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 1852. 1852. 1853. 1856. 1857. 1857. 1857. 1857. 1857. 1860. 1862. 1862. 1865. 1869. 1869. OF LONDON. I. On the Genus Urothoe and a new Genus Urothoides. By the Rev. THomas R. R. Srrpsine, J/.A. Received July 16th, 1889, read November 5th, 1889. [Puates I.-IV.] Genus Urornor, Dana, 1852. Urothoe’, Dana, American Journ. Sci. and Arts, ser. 2, vol. xiv. p. 311. iy Dana, United-States Explor. Exped. vol. xiii. pt. 2, pp. 908, 920. Egidia, Costa, Rendiconto d. Soc. r. Borb. Acad. d. Scienze, p. 165. Gammarus (pars), Spence Bate, On the British Edriophthalma, Brit. Assoc. Report for 1855. ELgidia, Costa, Ricerche sui Crost. Amfip. Nap. pp. 174, 190. Sulcator (pars), Spence Bate, Synopsis of British Edr. Crust., Ann, & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 2, vol. xix. p. 140. » (pars), White, Popular Hist. Brit. Crust. p. 175. Urothoe, Spence Bate, Synopsis of British Edr. Crust., Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 2, vol. xix. p. 145. White, Popular Hist. Brit. Crust. p. 186. Boeck, Forhandlinger ved de Skand. Naturf. 8de Méde, p. 646. 5 Spence Bate, Brit. Mus. Catal. Amph. Crust. p. 114. is Bate & Westwood, British Sess. Crust. vol. i. p. 192. 5 Lilljeborg, On Lysianassa magellanica, p. 18. a Grube, Mitth. titber St. Vaast-la-Hougue, Abhandlungen der schlesischen Gesell- schaft fiir vaterlindische Cultur, 1868-9, p. 119. v Norman, Last Report on Dredging among the Shetland Isles, Brit. Assoc. Report for 1868, p. 279. ‘ The name is variously printed in different works as Urothoe, Urothdée, and Urothoe. vol. XI1.—PART I. No. 1.—January, 1891. B 2 REV. T. R. R. STEBBING ON THE 1870. Urothoe, Boeck, Crust. amph. bor. et arct. p. 57. 1876. 3 Boeck, De Skand. og Arkt. Amph. p. 224’. 1876. 55 Giard, Comptes Rendus, Jan. 3, p. 76; Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 4, vol. xvii. p- 261. 1876. Bs Stebbing, Ann. & Mag. Nat. ‘Hist. ser. 4, vol. xvii. p. 344. Meinert, Crust. Isop. Amph. et Decap. Danie, p. 107. 1878. oy Spence Bate, the Crustacea in Couch’s Cornish Fauna revised, Journ. Roy. Inst. Cornwall, no. xix. pt. i. p. 48. 1879. es Sars, Crust. et Pyen. nova, p. 446. 1879. y Stebbing, Sessile-eyed Crustacea of Devonshire, Suppl. List, Trans. Devon. Assoc. vol. xi. p. 519. 1882. . Haswell, Catal. Australian Stalk- and Sessile-eyed Crustacea, p. 240. 1882. 0 Sars, Oversigt af Norges Crustaceer, p. 22. 1884. AS Chevreux, Assoc. pour l’ay. des Sciences, Blois. 1885. Egidia, Carus, Prodromus Faun Mediterranez, pars u1. p. 419. 1885. Urothoe, Sars, Den norske Nordhavys-Exped. p. 164. 1886. * Gerstaecker, Bronn’s Klassen und Ordnungen, Bd. v. Abth. ii. p. 501. 1887. 2 Barrois, Note sur Morph. des Orchesties et liste Amph. du Boulonnais, p. 16. 1887. ifs Bonnier, Catal. Crust. Malac. Concarneau, p. 79. 1887. Bs Chevreux, Crust. Amph. dragués par |’ Hirondelle, Bull. Soc. Zool. de France, t. xii. extr. pp. 13, 15. 1887. a Chevreux, Catal. Crust. Amph. Bretagne, Bull. Soc. Zool. de France, t. xii. extr. p. 10. 1888. » Chevreux, Distr. géogr. Amph. sur les cdtes de France, Bull. Soc. d’études Sci. de Paris, 11° année, 1% sem. 1888, extr. pp. 2, 7. 1888. ,, Chevreux, Amph. du littoral des Acores, Bull. Soc. Zool. de France, t. xiii. p. 34. 1888. BS Chevreux, Dragage de l’Hirondelle au large de Lorient, Bull. Soc. Zool. de France, t. xiii. séance du 28 février. 1888. . Chevreux, Amph. réc. aux environs de Cherchell, Assoc. pour l’ay. des Sci, Oran, séance du 3 avril. 1888. 33 Robertson, Catal. Amph. and Isop. Clyde, p. 29. 1888. ep Stebbing, Challenger Reports, vol. xxix. p. 824. Upper lip distally rounded, strongly attached to the mandibles. Mandibles having the cutting-edge scarcely denticulate, the secondary plate small, spine-row wanting, the molar tubercle strong, all three joints of the palp slender and rather elongate. First maxille with inner plate slender, curved, the two joints of the palp subequal. Mavillipeds with inner and outer plates of only moderate size, the second joint of the palp large and dilated, the third joint apically dilated, the fourth narrow. Upper antenne with a secondary flagellum; the three joints of the peduncle moderately elongate, not very unequal in length, together longer than the few-jointed flagellum. ’ In the first part of this work (1872) at p. 56, Boeck refers to Costa’s Hgidia as Aegidia. GENERA UROTHOE AND UROTHOIDES. 3} Lower antenne. Peduncle spinous; the flagellum in the male very long, and multi- articulate, in the female very short, two-jointed; calceoli present in the adult male both on the flagellum and on the last joint of the peduncle. First and second gnathopods similar, subchelate, the wrist larger than the hand; the finger of the first gnathopod longer than that of the second, each having a little transparent cap over the tip. First and second pereopods having the third joint longer than the strongly spined fourth or fifth. 5 Third perwopods with the first, third, and fourth joints dilated, the third, fourth, and fifth strongly spined, and furnished with long plumose sete; the fourth joint as wide as or wider than the third. Fourth pereopods the longest, with long plumose setze on the first and third joints. In all the perwopods the finger has the inner margin more or less nodulous or serrulate and has a cap over the tip. Pleopods having the inner ramus conspicuously shorter than the outer, and in the female the peduncle distally widened. Third uropods. The outer ramus furnished with a small second joint. Telson in general cleft nearly to the base. Body generally obese, not much either depressed or compressed ; the side-plates not very large. Gland-cells are distributed in great numbers over different parts of the animal. In this genus the eyes are very variable; in some, if not in all, species the eyes, though very large in the male, are of moderate size in the female, and very small in the young. In Urothoe abbreviata, Sars, no eyes were observed ; but the specimen being very small and probably young, it cannot be inferred with certainty that this is a blind species. ‘The second joint of the mandibular paip forms an angle or bend near its base, owing to which its full length is sometimes not perceived. The inner plate of the first maxillze appears to be always slender and slightly curved ; the first joint of the palp seems to vary in its proportion to the second, to which it is sometimes equal, while in other cases it may be longer or shorter than it. Boeck has remarked that, when Dana attributed to this genus long and narrow maxillipeds with very small inner lamelle, he was thinking only of his Urothoe rostratus, which belongs elsewhere. Spence Bate was perhaps influenced by Dana’s account when describing the outer plates as small, and the inner as rudimentary; they are, in fact, both of moderate size. In most, and perhaps in all, species the wrist of the first gnathopod is distin- guished from that of the second by having a row of short feathered sete planted just within the distal margin. As arule, there is an oblique row of sete on the outer surface of the third and fourth joints of the first and second pereopods; long feathered setee are attached to the inner distal margin of the third and fourth joints and to the inner surface of the fifth joint in the third perwopods, also to the inner surface of the B2 4 REV. T. R. R. STEBBING ON THE first joint and the hind margin of the third joint in the fourth perwopods, also to the inner surface on the lower part of the second pleon-segment, and to the rami of the third uropods. There have been at various times assigned to this genus twelve named species, one unnamed species, and one named variety. Four of the species have their proper places in other genera. Uvrothoe rostratus, Dana, 1852, from the Sooloo Sea, was transferred by Boeck in 1876 to Phoxus (now Phoxocephalus) ; and whether it belongs to that genus or not, it is certainly excluded by the maxillipeds from Urothoe. In 1874 Professor 8. I. Smith recorded “ Urothoé, species,” as “apparently belonging to this genus,” from Vineyard Sound, N.E. America, ‘This, however, proves to be a species of the genus Harpinia, Boeck. Urothoé pinguis, Haswell, 1880, from Bondi, New South Wales, also approaches the genus Harpinia, but is clearly removed from Urothoe by the upper antenne, the maxillipeds, the gnathopods, and some other details. Urothoe lachneéssa, Stebbing, 1888, from Kerguelen, should be transferred to a new genus Urothoides, on account of the character of the fourth and fifth pereeopods and the third uropods, as well as the absence of the plumose sete, which are so conspicuous in the European species of Urothoe. The type species, Urothoe irrostratus, Dana, 1852, had scarcely been published, when another species of the same genus appeared under the name Egidia pulchella, Costa, 1853, from the Bay of Naples. The fuller description of this species was given in 1857, and in 1872 Boeck pointed out that Hgidia was a synonym of Urothoe. In the generic description Costa says that the lower antenne have the first joint unarmed, doubtless meaning that there is no gland-cone ; but this is a mistake, as the gland-cone, though inconspicuous, is present. It is clear both from the generic and_ specific characters that Costa confused some of the limbs, overlooking one of the first two pairs of pereeopods altogether, and regarding the third pair as the second. In describing the third pereopods he also evidently overlooked the second joint, so that, although he gives a recognizable description and figure of the last four joints of the limb, he supposes the last of the four, the finger, to be entirely wanting. It is clear from the account of the lower antenne that Urothoe pulchella was described from a male specimen. ‘The eyes are stated to be large, rounded-triangular, nearly meeting on the back. The colour of the living animal was, according to Costa, pale green (verdiccio pallido). ‘The prevailing colour in the genus is light buff, sometimes mottled with pink or rose-colour. Rose-coloured specimens procured from Naples by Dr. Norman must probably be assigned to Urothoé elegans, Bate. Other specimens from the same locality, not so coloured, agree well with Costa’s species, though not having the hand of the second gnathopods produced into a tooth confronting the finger. This tooth may have been described and figured by Costa under a misapprehension owing to his haying only had an oblique view of the little convex palm. Cr GENERA UROTHOE AND UROTHOIDES. In 1856 Spence Bate published a third species of the genus under the name frammarus elegans, which in 1857 he changed to Urothoe elegans. ‘The type specimen from Plymouth was described in detail, and figured in the British- Museum Catalogue in 1862. Many of the characters given are common to other species. The long flagellum of the lower antenne shows that the specimen was amale. The eyes are described as “nearly horizontal, long ovate,” the palms of the gnathopods as “ oblique, imperfectly defined, ciliated,” the fingers of the pereeopods as straight and sharp. In the fifth pereeopods, it is said, “a few long plumose cilia mixed with short simple ones occur upon the posterior margins of the carpus and propodos.” ‘The first and second uropods are said to be short, with the “rami very short, shorter than their respective bases, subequal,” while the third pair are, as usual, “long; rami longer than base, plumosely ciliated.” In the figure the postero-lateral angles of the third pleon-segment are decidedly acute. In the ‘ British Sessile-eyed Crustacea’ (1862) a figure of the species similar to that in the Catalogue is given, with a much shorter description. Here the authors think two “important points,” the shape of the eyes and the size of the antenne, sufficient to distinguish it from Urothoe marinus. ‘The rest of the animal,” they say, “scarcely offers any specific variation from U. marinus.” As the size of the antenne is dependent on age and sex, the only character left for distinction is that of the eyes, which, the authors say, “are uniform.” Since this has no meaning, it becomes a question whether the word intended may have been reniform or oviform. An explanation is given that the specific name was suggested by the extremely beautiful colouring,—whitish-buff, and parts mottled with pink,—but no stress is laid upon this as a specific character. The Scotch specimens of Urothoe, from the Clyde and the Shetland Isles, which make the nearest approach to this species, agree with Spence Bate’s figure of it in not having the joints below the first in the third pereeopods much dilated, and in haying the corresponding joints in the two following pairs rather elongate; but no specimens that have come under my observation have the postero-lateral angles of the third pleon-segment acutely produced as in Spence Bate’s figure of Urothoe elegans, or the second uropods with rami so very short. ‘The dis- crepancies may be explained by the fact that no dissection of the specimen was made. This will account for the circumstance that the first and second pereeopods are drawn with seven joints, the third only with five, and that no regard is paid to the long plumose setee on the third and fourth pereeopods. In 1857, under the name of Sulcator marinus, Spence Bate published a species which in 1862 he figured and more fully described as Urothoe marinus, having received it from the Moray Firth, the Shetlands, and the Clyde. It was pointed out by Giard in 1876 that the brevity of the lower antenne relied on as a specific character only indicated that the specimen examined was a female. In the description of these antenne it is stated that the first joint of the peduncle is “furnished with three longitudinal rows of obtuse- pointed spines,” and that the flagellum consists of a single joint; but that which by a 6 REV. T. R. R. STEBBING ON THE slip of the pen is called the first, is in reality the fourth joint of the peduncle, and it is surmounted by two, not three, rows of spines, although sometimes the spines of one row by lying over in opposite directions give the appearance of a double row. The flagellum consists of two joints, a long anda short one. ‘The first pair of gnathopods are said to be much smaller than the second; but, while this would be unusual in the genus, there is a fairly certain proof that the gnathopods have been interchanged in the description, since the larger gnathopods are figured as having on the distal margin of the wrist the little row of spines which is distinctive of the first pair. It is true that both in the Museum Catalogue and in the ‘ British Sessile-eyed Crustacea’ these enathopods are figured with the branchial vesicle attached, which of course cannot belong to the first pair, and no doubt it was this apparent attachment of the breathing- organ which led to the confusion. The segments carrying the two pairs of gnathopods are in this genus so closely tied together, that the accident might easily arise of the second gnathopod being detached, while leaving its branchial vesicle in apparent connection with the first gnathopod. Of the crooked finger ascribed to the fifth pereopods I can give no account, except that it appears to be abnormal or accidental. The character most easy to seize for this species is to be found in the uropods, of which the first pair have a short peduncle and short unequal rami, the inner ramus being the shorter and much curved. In Spence Bate’s figure the tips of these rami do not reach to the end of the short peduncle of the second pair, but in their natural position they reach much further than this, since the fourth pleon-segment much overlaps the fifth at the sides. The telson is accurately defined as “‘subapically furnished with a short spine and several fine hairs,” but in no specimen that I have seen is it cleft quite to the base as in the figure. The length of the animal is said in the Museum Catalogue to be “y',ths of an inch;” but in the ‘British Sessile-eyed Crustacea’ we read “length yeths of an inch,” without any explanation of the change. In the latter work a line presumably indicating the natural size measures 3°; of an inch, and there can in fact be no doubt that $3 is a misprint. Nevertheless Urothoe marinus is a much larger and more robust species than Urothoe elegans. Urothoé norvegica, Boeck, 1860, from Norway, was the species next established. Figures and detailed description of it did not appear till 1876, and even with these the species is still left in some obscurity. It may be presumed from the small size of the lower antenne that the specimen examined was a female’; for, though Boeck states that the flagellum has four joints, an inspection of the figure makes it tolerably certain that there were actually no more than the usual two. Of the third pleon-segment Boeck makes two statements—one, that the postero-lateral angle is produced upwards, the other, that it is acute. His figure does not correspond with either particular. Of the third pereeopods he remarks that the first joint is not much dilated. Specimens obtained by Canon Norman from “ Sleat Sound, 1866,” and “ Shetland, 1867,” agree with * For a different opinion, see Chevreux on this species, 1887. GENERA UROTHOE AND UROTHOIDES. a Boeck’s description in having the angles of the third pleon-segment acute (though not produced upwards), and in having the first joint of the third pereopods rather less dilated than is usual in the genus, and with the lower hinder angle of the joint very much rounded. In Boeck’s work, De Skand. og Arkt. Amphip. plate vii., fig. 4 pro- bably refers to these limbs, not, as the lettering would indicate, to the fifth pereopods. In describing the fifth pereeopods he says that the fourth joint is longer and thicker than the first. First is obviously a misprint for ///th, a correction which brings the statement into agreement with Norman’s specimens above referred to, and with Boeck’s own figure of the limb, plate vi. fig. 9m, where 9 m would indicate the third or the fourth pero- pods, and is beyond doubt a mistake for 9”. Plate vii. has two figures marked 4 h, asif representing the maxillipeds of Urothoe norvegica, but the upper one should probably be 5h, referring to the species “ Phovus Holbélli ;” the palp has been accidentally omitted. The figures 4g and 4m near the right-hand lower corner of the plate are most likely also wrongly numbered. In 1862 Spence Bate described and figured under the title * Urothoé Bairdii, n. s.,” a specimen obtained, like Urothoe marinus, from the Moray Firth. The lower antenne show that the specimen was a male, but not a male which had attained its fullest development, so as to have calceoli and a very prolonged flagellum with very slender joints. Both in the Museum ‘ Catalogue’ and in the ‘ British Sessile-eyed Crustacea’ the maxillipeds are figured, evidently by mistake, without a finger; in the latter, but not in the former, work the lettering of the first and second pairs of uropods is transposed. The latter work affirms that the third pereopods ‘‘ terminate in a knife- shaped finger, the anterior margin of which is entire,” and the margin is so represented in both works, owing, I believe, to defective observation, since the denticulation of this margin may easily escape notice from some points of view, but has nevertheless proved to be present in all specimens of the genus that I have examined. It seems to me scarcely doubtful that Urothoe Bairdii is a synonym of Urothoe marinus. The pecu- liarity of having the outer ramus of the third uropods devoid of plumose sete can scarcely be relied on of itself to constitute specific distinction. It can derive no validity from the sanction of a single, not fully developed, specimen. Boeck supposes Urothoe Bairdii to be a synonym of his own Urothoe norvegica; but in the former species the first joint of the third pereeopods is very broad instead of being, as in Boeck’s species, comparatively narrow, and the rami of the first uropods are very unequal, while in Boeck’s species they are equal, so that there is really no question of uniting these two names. In the same year (1862) Spence Bate established another species, upon a specimen one-tenth of an inch in length from Tenby, under the name Urothoé brevicornis, n. s. The specific name is unfortunate, since it is now known that the young and females in all species of the genus have the lower antenne short, while they are long in the adult males. As in the case of Urothoe marinus, so here it is evident that the first and in the lower one the first joint of 8 REY. T. R. R. STEBBING ON THE second gnathopods have been confused, the larger first gnathopods with the spines on the apex of the wrist being figured and described as the second. Professor Grube in 1869 described and figured a specimen from St, Vaast-la-Hougue under the title “ Urothée marinus, Sp. Bate, t var. pectinatus, Gr.” (in the explanation of the plate “ Urothoe marinus, Sp. B. (?var. pectina, Gr.).” The account of the lower antenne shows that the specimen was a female. Grube says that these antenne have five joints, the second much longer than the first, armed aboye with a subtriple row of spines, the third simple, and armed with an outer row of rather long sete, the flagellum very short, equalling the length of the third joint. The so-called second joint with the subtriple row of spines is evidently the fourth joint of the peduncle, the so-called third being the fifth, and the remaining two joints constituting the flagellum. He notices that the finger of the second gnathopods is shorter than that of the first. He would have been well content to assign the specimen to Urothoe marinus, Bate & Westwood, but for certain differences in the pereopods, especially the third pair, and in the uropods and telson. The stripes and patches of yellow-ochre which he notices on the three hinder pairs of pereopods are not peculiar to any one species of Urothoe, being due to the gland-cells which are found in almost every part of the animal. The spines on the third, fourth, and fifth joints of the third pereeopods are not fully represented in Spence Bate’s figures, but such details often escape notice, or are only perfunctorily represented before their importance has been brought into special prominence, so that it is rash of Grube to infer that had they been present they could not have been neglected. In regard to the plumose sete on these limbs Grube himself has fallen into some misapprehension. He says that Spence Bate speaks only of one row of simple hairs on the hind rim of the third pereopods, while in Grube’s specimen they are as decidedly plumose as Spence Bate figures them on the fifth pair’; the first joint, too, appears in Spence Bate noticeably narrowed below, whereas he (Grube) found it equally broad above and below. But Spence Bate speaks only of the first joint as having the hind margin “ fringed with a row of simple hairs,” just as Grube himself figures it. ‘The rest of the leg is remarkable for long plumose cilia,” according to the account in the ‘ British Sessile-eyed Crustacea.’ In the full figure given in that work of Urothoe marinus, the first joint of the third pereeopods answers to Grube’s description of it; but in a full figure the limbs being seen at all sorts of angles often give but a very rough idea of their actual details, and in the separate figure of the limb in question it is at once seen that the first joint is, as is usual throughout the genus, broader below than above. ‘The first uropods are omitted from Grube’s figure of his specimen; but in the Latin description he says that the first and second uropods reach almost equally far back, rarely beyond the peduncle of the third pair, having their rami slightly curved. By this account the position of the species is left obscure. The * It is in Vrothoe elegans, not in Urothoe marinus, that Spence Bate figures the plumose sete on the fifth pereopods. GENERA UROTHOE AND UROTHOIDES. 9 telson is described in the Latin as “latius lanceolatum, usque ultra dimidium fissum,” and in the German as “cleft only to the middle, much longer than broad, running out into two narrow points, each with a spinule and two sete.” In the species of Urothoe in general the telson is cleft much beyond the centre. In 1879 Sars described, under the name Urothoé abbreviata, n. sp., a single specimen; 3 millim. in length, taken in the sea north-west of Finmark, lat. 71° 25! N., long. 15° 40"5 E., from a depth of 620 fathoms. Of this in 1885 he gave a somewhat fuller description and a figure. In the earlier account he distinguishes it from other species by the abbreviate form of the body, the absence of eyes, and the rudimentary accessory flagellum of the upper antenne ; in the later, “‘ by its remarkably short and thickset body, the peculiar form distinguishing the first pair of antenn, the absence of eyes, and by the short last pair of caudal stylets.” In , >xint of fact these characters are not of much service for the recognition of the species. ‘he short and thickset body is not the exception but the rule in this genus. In the young the eyes are also, as a rule, very inconspicuous. ‘The first pair of antenne,” according to Sars, “are rather elongate, and unlike those in all other known species.” Yet according to his descrip- tion and figure of these organs they agree very well with the prevalent form, the smallness of the flagellum in all probability only indicating that the specimen was a very young one. Its diminutive size and the shortness of the last uropods are in accord with this supposition. In the earlier account Sars states that the flagellum of the lower antennee has four joints, just as Boeck does for his Urothoe norvegica; but in the later account Sars omits all mention of this flagellum, only saying that these antenne from their position are difficult to examine without dissection. ‘The circumstance that the almost rectangular corners of the third pleon-segment are not produced upwards is probably mentioned as a point of distinction from Boeck’s species, but, judging by Boeck’s figure, the upward production is wrongly attributed to that species itself. On the whole, with our present information, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Urothoe abbreviata is the young of Urothoe norvegica, a deep-water form, of which fuller and more definite details are still to be desired. In 1888 M. Chevreux described, under the name “Urothoe Poucheti, nov. sp.,” a male specimen taken at the surface, off Ponta Delgada, at the island of San Miguel, in the Azores. ‘This species,” he says, “while tolerably near to Urothoe elegans, Sp. Bate, differs from it by its less obese form, the size and peculiar appearance of the eyes, and above all by the first two pairs of uropods, which are more developed than in other species of the genus.” ‘The eyes prominent, very large, rounded, meeting one another at the apex of the head,” would naturally be a very distinctive character to any one judging only by the published figures of species in this genus. It is, however, common to the fully developed males in several species, and agrees closely with Costa’s description of the eyes in Egidia pulchella. ‘The uropods, of which M. Chevreux has kindly sent VOL. XI1I.—Part I. No. 2.—January, 1891. © 10 REV. T. R. R. STEBBING ON THE me a drawing, correspond in general shape and proportions with those of Urothoe brevi- cornis, Sp. Bate; but the peduncle of the first pair shows a series of twenty-four spines, and the outer ramus has four spines, the outer ramus of the second pair carrying three spines. Urothoe brevicornis, moreover, is not less, but more, bulky than Uvrothoe elegans. I have been most kindly assisted with specimens for this paper by M. E. Chevreux, D. Robertson, Esq., and the Rev. Canon Norman. Dr. Norman had already taken up the subject himself, but as soon as he heard that my work was further advanced than his own he at once, more suo, placed at my disposal both his preliminary notes and his collection of species from numerous localities. UROTHOE IRROSTRATUS, Dana. 1852. Urothoe irrostratus, Dana, United-States Explor. Exped. vol. xiii. pt. 2, p. 922, pl. 62. figs. 6 a-f. 1862. 5 ? Spence Bate, Brit. Mus. Catal. Amph. Crust. p. 117, pl. xx. figs. 3, 3e. 1876. oh 33 Boeck, De Skand. og Arkt. Amph. p. 225. This, which has become the type species of this genus, was only partially figured by Dana, under the impression that this and his Urothoe rostratus might be male and female of one species. His description of Urothoe irrostratus is: —* Near the rostratus. Front not rostrate. Flagellum of the superior antenne six- or seven-jointed, shorter than the base; appendage very short, two- or three-jointed. Tarsi of feet of fourth and fifth pairs nodulose along inner side, this side somewhat arcuate.’ Spence Bate inter- prets the tarsi to mean the carpus; but in the special figures which Dana devotes to the extremities of the fourth and fifth pairs of feet, the carpus is not included, while the finger shows a nodulose convex inner margin in accordance with the description of the so-called tarsi. It is unfortunate that Dana gives neither figure nor description of the sixth and seventh pairs of feet (the fourth and fifth pereeopods). In his notes on the genus he says “the six posterior legs [third, fourth, and fifth pairs of pereeopods] are broad lamellar, especially the first, third, and fourth joints.” But just as he evidently inferred without examination that the maxillipeds of Urothoe irrostratus were similar to those of Urothoe rostratus, so he may have inferred without observation that the fourth and fifth pereeopods would be alike in the two species. In the European species the expression “broad lamellar” would not be especially appropriate to the third and fourth joints of the last two pairs of peraeopods. Dana figures the lower antenne with a long, slender flagellum carrying calceoli, so that there can be no doubt that his specimen was a male. The three joints of the peduncle of the upper antenne are figured as nearly equal in length. The exact relationship of this species to its kindred in Europe cannot well be determined until fresh specimens have been obtained from the Sooloo Sea. Should there prove to be any very striking diversity in regard to the fourth and fifth pereopods, GiNERA UROTHOE AND UROTHOIDES. 11 amounting to generic difference, it might be necessary to revive Costa’s name Egidia for the European species; but it is not very probable that any such necessity will arise. UROTHOE PULCHELLA (Costa). (Plate IV. A.) 1853. Egidia pulchella, Costa, Ricerche sw Crostacei Amfipodi del Regno di Napoli, Rend. d. Soc. r. Borbon. Acad. d. Sci. n. ser. 1853. 1857. a 3 Costa, Ricerche sui Crostacei Amfipodi del Regno di Napoli, Mem. d. R. Accad. d. Sei. di Napoli, vol. i. p. 190, tav. iv. fig. 38, a—g. 1876. Urothoé pulchella, Boeck, De Skand. og Arkt. Amph. p. 225. 1885. Egidia pulchella, Carus, Prodromus Faune Mediterraneze, pars ii. p. 419. 1888. Urothoé pulchella, Stebbing, ‘ Challenger? Amphipoda, p. 297. Rostrum little developed, lower front corners of the head fully rounded; third pleon-segment with the postero-lateral angles not acute. yes reniform, except in the smaller stages, seemingly never very large. Upper antenne. First joint thicker but by no means longer than the second, each having two lines of setze on the surface; third joint shorter than the first, and much more slender, nearly as long as the five- or six-jointed flagellum ; secondary flagellum three- to four-jointed, longer than half the principal. Lower antenne. In the male specimen examined the fourth joint of the peduncle had twenty-one spines in the outer row, five in the inner, and several small sete ; the fifth joint had a row of five spines near the outer margin, and eight long serrate sete near the inner; the flagellum consisted of twenty-three joints, and was more than twice as long as the peduncle. There being no brush of hairs on the fourth joint of the peduncle, and there being spines but no calceoli on the fifth joint, this specimen may not represent the fully adult male. In the female from Naples the fourth joint has twenty-one spines in one row, two in the other, about a dozen long sete along one margin, and seven at one corner; the fifth joint shorter than the fourth, with a row of eleven spines, ten long sete near the convex border, and six at the opposite distal corner; the flagellum scarcely as long as the fifth joint of the peduncle, the first joint carrying three rather slender spines, and the second six long sete and three shorter ones; the second joint is about one third the length of the first, its two apical sete long. The triturating organs have on the confronting margins each twelve or fourteen stout spines toothed on two edges, the series being continued along the distal border by six- and-twenty slender serrulate spines or sete. Mandibles. The cutting-plate forming a strong blunt tooth; the secondary plate small, on the left mandible denticulate, on the right more slender, strap-like, slightly bifid; the molar tubercle powerful; the second joint of the palp carrying nine sete, three or four of which are very small; the third joint about as long as the second, nearly acute at the apex, carrying eleven spines, four or five at the apex seta-like. c2 12 REV. T. R. R. STEBBING ON THE Lower lip. The outer and inner lobes have the margins well furred ; the mandibular processes are divergent. First maxille. The slender, slightly curved, inner plate has on the convex outer margin and apex six plumose sete; the outer plate has eleven spines on the truncate distal margin, some straight, some curved, all, except perhaps the outermost, more or less serrate, or with a subapical tooth ; the palp not reaching so far as the outer plate’s apex, having at its base a little lobe of the trunk, the first joint rather broader and longer than the second, which on the truncate apex carries three sete, the inner serrate, the other two plumose. Second maxiliw. Inner plate rather shorter than the outer, tending to oval in shape, the apical end narrow, bordered with spines, plumose sete fringing both it and the distal half of the inner margin; the outer plate with parallel sides, only the truncate distal margin occupied with spines. Mazillipeds. The inner plates with three plumose sete on the inner margin, two or three teeth and several plumose sete or spines on the truncate distal margin ; the outer plates bordered with seven stout spines and seventeen plumose sete of various sizes; the second joint of the palp with the broad distal margin naked, the inner margin and adjacent surface tnickly fringed with sete ; the third joint pear-shaped, with a very narrow neck, the broad distal half of the joint set about with groups of sete, and having the short and narrow slightly furred terminal joint attached to the middle of its distal margin ; at the narrowed apex of the fourth joint there are two sete and three or four very small ones near the apex. First qnathopods. Side-plates not very narrow, the lower hinder angle forming a well-produced rounded point, with a single spinule. Limb as in Urothoe marinus, but with only seven spines in the spine-row adjoining the broad distal margin of the wrist, and the hand oval. Second gnathopods. The narrow hand is slightly distinguished from that of other species by the prominence of the small convex palm, and is about four fifths as long as the wrist. First and second pereopods nearly as in Urothoe marinus, but the fourth joint has six or seven spines, the fifth has nine or ten, and the finger has six or seven small tubercles, which in the second pair are set very closely together. In the first pair the side-plates have eight or nine spinules at the lower hind corner. The marsupial plates of the female, here and apparently in the kindred species, long and slender, and when fully developed having the distal half frmged with moderately long sete. Third pereopods. The hind rim of the side-plates almost completely smooth. The limb distinguished from that of Urothoe brevicornis by having the fourth joint very much broader than the third, this joint (although belonging to a smaller species) having more numerous spines in the spine-rows, and also on its distal margin a great number of very long densely plumose sete ; the fifth joint is broad, and the finger not gently GENERA UROTHOE AND UROTHOIDES. 1 os) tapering as in Urothoe brevicornis, but narrowing rather abruptly as in Urothoe marinus, from which, however, it differs in having on the front margin many little sharp denticles rather closely set, even that nearest the tip being of no great size, nor does the tapering part form a concave margin as in the last-named species. Fourth pereopods nearly as in Urothoe brevicornis, the third joint not shorter than the fourth, the fourth with four or five groups of spines on the front and two on the hind margin ; the finger more than half the length of the fifth joint, very narrowly tapering, with numerous little teeth or tubercles along the front margin. Fifth perwopods nearly as in Urothoe marinus, but the side-plates less crenate, the first joint scarcely at all more widened above than below, the fourth joint with four or five groups of spines on the front and two on the hind margin, the slender tapering finger more than half the length of the fifth joint, with from twenty to thirty little tubercles along its front margin; the first joint in the female having the front margin slightly more convex than in the male. Pleopods nearly as in Urothoe marinus, but none of the peduncles elongate, and the joints of the inner ramus not exceeding thirteen, those of the outer not exceeding nineteen in number. Uropods nearly as in Urothoe marinus, but outer branch of first pair with only two spines, branches of second pair without armature, the branches of the third pair with fewer sete, and the inner branch only reaching the base of the second joint of the outer. Telson short, with very convex sides, otherwise nearly as in Urothoe brevicornis. Length about a fifth of an inch. Localities. Naples (specimens obtained by Canon Norman) and off the west coast of France (specimens obtained by M. E. Chevreux). URorHoE ELEGANS, Sp. Bate. (Plate I.) 1856. Gammarus elegans, Sp. Bate, On the British Edriophthalma, Brit. Assoc. Report for 1855. 1857. Urothoé elegans, Sp. Bate, Synopsis of Brit. Edr. Crust., Ann. & Mag, Nat. Hist. ser. 2, vol. xix. p. 145. 1857. 55 y White, Popular History of British Crustacea, p. 186. 1862. 99 a Sp. Bate, Brit. Mus. Catal. Amph. Crust. p. 117, pl. xx. fig. 2. 1862. 35 35 Bate & Westwood, British Sess. Crust. vol. i. p. 200, woodcut. 1869. s 5p Norman, Last Report on Dredging among the Shetland Isles, Brit, Assoc. Report for 1868, p. 279. 1876. a es Giard, Comptes Rendus, Jan. 3, p. 76; Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 4, vol. xvii. p. 261. 1876. bp op Stebbing, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 4, vol. xvii. p, 344. 1879. 5 a Sp. Bate, The Crustacea in Couch’s Cornish Fauna reyised and added to Journ, Roy. Inst. Cornwall, no. xix. pt. ii. p. 48 (sep. copy). 14 REV. T. R. BR. STEBBING ON THE 1884. Urothve elegans, Chevreux, Assoc. pour lav. des Sciences, Congrés de Blois, Amph. du Croisic, p. 2 (sep. copy). 1887. 5 by Chevreux, Crust. Amph. Bretagne, Bull. Soc. Zool. de France, t. xil. extr. p. ll. 1888. 5 3 Chevreux, Amph. du litt. des Acores, p. 5. Rostral point obtuse, very slightly produced. Postero-lateral angles of the first pleon-segment having a minutely produced point, those of the second more sharply produced, those of the third slightly rounded. Eyes moderately large in the adult male. Upper antenne. Peduncle as in Urothoe marinus; flagellum six-jointed; secondary flagellum slender, three-jointed, decidedly less than half as long as the principal. Lower antenne. In the adult male peduncle very nearly as in Urothoe marinus, the fourth joint, however, having sixteen or eighteen spines in one row, and two or three in the other, the fifth joint carrying a row of nine calceoli on one edge, and four or five rather small setee on the other; the flagellum between two and three times as long as the peduncle, consisting of forty joints. In one specimen on one antenna each of the first five joints, on the other each of the first three had a calceolus, the remaining joints being alternately without and with these appendages. In the female the fourth joint longer than the fifth, carrying fourteen spines in one row and two in the other, with a few sete, the fifth joint having six spines and four of the long sete; the flagellum full as long as the fifth joint of the peduncle, with one spine and four sete on the first joint, the slender second joint being half as long as the first, the two sete at its tip not very elongate. Mandibiles. Cutting-plate like a broad tooth; the little secondary plate on the left mandible (when unworn) cut into five little unequal teeth, on the right strap- shaped; the third joint of the palp longer than the second, with five sete in a series beginning low down on the front margin, and two accompanied by two spines at the apex. Lower lip. Mandibular processes well developed. First maazille. Ynner plate slender, curved, with two plumose sete on the rounded apex ; outer plate as in Urothoe pulchella; second joint of the palp about equal in length and thickness to the first, fully reaching the apex of the outer plate, having three sete on its distal margin. Second maxille as in Urothoe pulchella, but with the plumose setz not fringing all the distal half of the inner margin of the inner plate. Mazillipeds differing but little from those of Urothoe pulchella; the outer plate with five spines ; the second and third joints of the palp not so much distally widened. First gnathopods. Side-plates distally widened, with two spinules at the lower hind corner. The wrist with seven or eight spines in the row on the very sloping distal margin; the hand narrowly oval. GENERA UROTHOE AND UROTHOIDES. 15 Second gnathopods as well as the first, in general character, like those of Urothoe marinus, but with narrower wrists and hands. First and second perwopods as in Urothoe marinus, but comparatively slender, with only four stout spines on the fourth joint, eight on the fifth, the finger with three or four small and distant pointed tubercles. The side-plates of the first pair have five spinules at the indented hind corner. Third pereopods. The side-plates with the hind margin only slightly indented. The limb strikingly distinguished from that of Urothoe pulchella by having the fourth joint not broader than the third, with about seven spines in each of its spine-rows; the finger is comparatively narrow, the distal half slenderly tapering, with about seven small tubercles on the front margin. Fourth pereopods differing little from those of Urothoe marinus and other species, but having the third joint shorter than the fourth, with five or six plumose sete on the hind margin, the fourth joint shorter or not longer than the fifth, with three groups of spines in front and two behind, the finger very slender and tapering, with about seven denticles on the front margin. Fifth pereopods in general character like those of Urothoe marinus, but the first joint not widened above, and with no conspicuous row of spinules on the upper part of the hind margin; the third joint with two groups of spinules on each margin, the fourth and fifth joints each with three groups on the front and two on the hind margin; the finger very slender, more than half as long as the fifth joint, with some seven or eight little nodules on the front margin. The female has the front margin of the first joint convex instead of nearly straight. Pleopods as in Urothoe marinus, but with fewer joints to the rami, the inner having eleven or twelve, the outer thirteen or fourteen. Uropods similar to those of Urothoe brevicornis, but the rami of the two first pairs smooth, the peduncle of the second pair having only one spine on the inner margin ; the inner ramus of the third pair is sometimes very decidedly shorter than the outer ; the number of plumose sete on the rami of the third pair appears to be too variable to afford a character. Telson not very broad, nearly as in Urothoe brevicornis. Length less than a fifth of an inch. Localities. The specimens figured were dredged in February 1889 from a depth of 20 fathoms, off Fairlie Perch, in the Clyde, near Cumbrae, by Mr. David Robertson. Other specimens examined were taken by Canon Norman in dredging among the Shetland Isles. The original specimen, to which the name was given by Mr. Spence Bate, came from the neighbourhood of the Eddystone Lighthouse. 16 REV. T. R. R. STEBBING ON THE URoTHor MARINUS, Sp. Bate. (Plate II.) 1857. Sulcator marinus, Sp. Bate, Synopsis of Brit. Edr. Crust., Ann, & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 2, vol. xix. p. 140. 1857. 5 % White, Popular History of British Crustacea, p. 175. 1862. Urothoé marinus, Sp. Bate, Brit. Mus. Catal. Amph. Crust. p. 115, pl. xix. fig. 2. 1862. Ss Bate & Westwood, British Sess. Crust. vol. i, p. 195, woodcuts. 1869. ae 3 ? var. pectinatus, Grube, Mitth. tiber St. Vaast-la-Hougue, Abh. der schles. Gesellsch. fiir vaterl. Cultur, 1868-9, p. 119. 1869. i Norman, Last Report on Dredging among the Shetland Isles, p. 279. 1876. » marina, Giard, Comptes Rendus, Jan. 8, p. 76; Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 4, vol. xvi. p. 261. 1876. » marinus, Stebbing, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 4, vol. xvii. p. 344. 1877. » marina, Meinert, Crust. Isop. Amph. et Decap. Dani, p. 107. 1884. » marinus, Chevreux. Assoc. pour lav. des Sciences, Congrés de Blois, Amph. du Croisic, p. 313. 1887. Ms Barrois, Morph. des Orchesties et liste Amph. du Boulonnais, p. 16. 1887. » marina, Bonnier, Catal. Crust. Malac. Concarneau, p. 79. 1887. oh 5 Chevreux, Crust. Amph. Bretagne, Bull. Soc. Zool. de France, t. xii. extr. pp. 10, 34, 36. 1888. 53 45 Chevreux, Dragage de l’Hirondelle au large de Lorient, p. 1. 1888. Be 5 Chevreux, Amph. réc. aux env. de Cherchell, extr. p. 5. 1888. 5» marinus, Robertson, Catal. Amph. and Isop. of Clyde, p. 30. The sides of the rostrum not forming an obtuse angle, but the apex not acute. ‘The postero-lateral angles of the second pleon-segment acutely produced, but not those of the first or the third segment. Hyes very large in the adult male, nearly meeting on the top of the head. Upper antenne. First joint thicker, but scarcely longer, than the second, each with an elongate group of sete on the upper or outer side, and (in the adult male) a brush- like fringe of hairs on the lower or inner; the third joint thinner than the second, two thirds as long, with a few hairs; flagellum nine-jointed ; secondary flagellum, little more than half as long as the principal, five-jointed. Lower antenne. In the adult male first three joints short, gland-cone very inconspicuous, the third joint having a tuft of hairs near the inner distal angle; the fourth joint longer than the three preceding united, closely fringed on one side with a brush of hairs, which also pass round the distal margin, on the other side carrying numerous unequal spines, eighteen in one row, four in the other, and also some sete; the fifth joint nearly as long as the fourth, carrying twelve sete on one edge, and eight calceoli, each with an accompanying tuft of hairs, on the other; the flagellum very long and slender, with fifty joints, each of the first six having a calceolus, and of the next forty-two each alternate one, the calceoli being smaller towards the end of the flagellum. In a specimen with no fringe of hairs and no calceoli the fifth joint of the peduncle has a GENERA UROTHOE AND UROTHOIDES. nig row of ten unequal spines, and the flagellum consists of twenty-five joints. In a female specimen from the same locality the fourth joint has seventeen spines in one row and three in the other; the fifth joint is decidedly shorter than the fourth, and has nine or ten spines, the long setze of this and the preceding joint being fewer than in the female specimen described of Urothoe brevicornis. The flagellum is as long as the last joint of the peduncle, the first joint carrying two spines near the distal end, and eight long sete round it; the little terminal joint is scarcely more than a third of the breadth of the preceding. Mandibles as in Urothoe elegans, but the long sete on the second joint of the palp more numerous, and the long narrow third joint having ten spines along the front margin, and two at the apex, together with four others that are long and more or less setiform. Lower lip. Mandibular processes strongly developed. First maailie. The curved inner plate with four or five setee on and near the apex ; outer plate and palp as in Urothoe elegans. Second maxille with plumose sete passing round the apex and the distal half of the inner margin of the inner plate, which also has a row of plumose spines on the apical margin, these maxille not sensibly differing from those of Urothoe pulchella. Masxillipeds nearly as in Urothoe pulchella, the inner plates rather broader, the outer with six stout spines and twenty seta, thus arranged—a short seta, three rather large ones, a group of three small ones, of which the middle is the longest, such a group followed by a stout spine occurring four times in succession, then a single seta, two stout spines, and (on the apical margin) three plumose sete. ‘The number of spines and sete, however, cannot be depended on as constant in this species, or probably in any of the others. Here the third joint of the palp is more elongate than in Urothoe pulchella. First gnathopods. Side-plates narrow, with a group of three spinules at the lower hind corner. The first joint slender, with a few spinules on the front margin, many long pectinate sete on the hind margin, and four groups of them on the inner surface ; the second joint short, with one group of sete on the hind margin; the third joint with one or two sete on the hind margin, its apex acute; the wrist almost as long as the first joint and much broader, the convex hind margin or breast closely fringed with unequal setiform spines, the inner surface carrying five or six groups, the row of pectinate spines at the distal margin twelve in number; overlapping this row and running to the front margin is a row of microscopic spinules, such a series being found in all the species examined; the hand about three quarters as long as the wrist, much narrower, with setiform spines in two rows on the inner surface, in one row on the outer, and fringing more than the distal half of the hind margin; the palm oblique, microscopically pectinate, fringed with various setules, and defined by a stout spine, Om) VoL. XII.—Part I. No, 3.—January, 1891. D 18 REY. T. R. R. STEBBING ON THE beyond which the capped tip of the finger reaches; the finger carries two or three setules. Second gnathopods. Side-plates distally widened, the lower distal angle not having, as in the first pair, a produced point, carrying a group of seven setules. ‘The sack-like branchial vesicle as long as or longer than the first joint. The limb differs from that of the first pair in having the first joint more elongate, with two instead of four groups of setee on the inner surface; the long sete on the second and third joints are more numerous; the wrist is narrower and without the special armature of the distal margin ; the hand has less of the hind margin furnished with sete, and the palm a little less oblique; the finger is decidedly shorter, its tip reaching very little beyond the palmar spine. First perwopods, Side-plates widened below, with six or seven spinules on the upward curved hinder part of the lower margin. Branchial vesicle longer than the first joint, nearly uniform in breadth, except at the point of attachment, First joint straight, with setze at the apex of the hind margin, and near that of the front; second joint with a group of sete about the apex of the hind margin; third joint as long as the fourth and fifth joints together, having groups of sete along the hind margin, and near it a trans- verse group high up on the outer surface, which also carries an oblique series near the apex of the convex front margin; the fourth joint nearly as broad as the third, with an oblique group of setee approaching the distal end of the front margin, several bent plumose sete and four graduated stout spines along the undulating hind margin, one stout spine and four set on the distal border, which projects strongly behind the fifth joint; the fifth joint a little shorter than the preceding, and scarcely half its width, carrying seven or eight unequal short spines directed towards the finger, the distal part of the hind margin undulating; the finger straight, except at the tip, with five tubercles along the hind margin, which, with the spines of the fourth and fifth joints, must give it a prchensile character; the slightly bent tip has a transparent cap. Second perwopods. Side-plates broader than in the preceding pair, with the spinules not grouped at the corner, but spread along the lower margin. Branchial vesicle much dilated below the long neck. Limb scarcely differing from that of first pair, except that the first and third joints are longer, and the first is a little sinuous. Third pereopods. Side-plates with the hind lobe deeper than the front, its margin crenulate with spinules in the indents. Branchial vesicles narrowed at the two extremities. The first joint very broad, distally widened, the wing often darkened by the crowd of gland-cells, the upper corners rounded, the lower hinder angle not very acute, sometimes rounded, the front margin rather sinuous, with two or three spinules above, two groups of sete below, and a few spines at the apex, the hind margin crenulate, and having about a dozen sete, the straight lower margin of the wing carrying two or three setules; the second joint not half the width of the first, but broader than long, with a group of sete and a spine at the apex of the front; the third GENERA UROTHOE AND UROTHOIDES. UG. joint rather longer, scarcely broader, with a group of sets and a spine at the indent of the front margin, the apex of which has five spines: a row of seven spines arms the lower margin of the outer surface and the rounded hinder apex, the corresponding margin of the inner surface being fringed with some sixteen immensely long and densely plumose sete, some of which reach to the extremity of the limb; there are sometimes short plumose sete along the hind margin; the fourth joint is nearly as long as the two preceding joints together, and decidedly, yet not very greatly, wider than either; on the outer surface there is a series of eight unequal spines reaching the indent of the front margin, and another reaching that of the hind margin; below these there are two distal series, respectively of six and eight spines, and on the hinder part of the distal margin there are also on the inner surface some long plumose sete; the fifth joint is longer, but very much narrower than the fourth, having at the middle of the hind margin a group of five unequal spines, and of three at the apex, on the strongly indented front margin three groups of seven, six, and five respectively, and on the inner surface below the middle a row of five long densely plumose sete; the finger is not much shorter than the fifth joint, comparatively broad, except near the cap-bearing tip, containing, like almost all other parts of the animal, numerous gland- cells with their ducts and minute circular openings; the hind margin almost straight, carrying near the base a small plumose cilium, the front margin at first smooth, but for two thirds of its length armed with nodules, about thirteen in number, the first eight or nine successively larger, the next one, two, or three small and sharper than the rest, followed by one near the tip longer than any of the others. Fourth perwopods. Side-plates narrower than in the preceding pair, the hind margin crenate and fringed with spinules. ‘The branchial vesicle smaller than in the preceding pair. The first joint large and oval, rather broader below than above, the front margin a little sinuous, with two or three spinules above, and three or four groups of pectinate setiform spines below; the convex hind margin very shallowly crenulate, with spinules in the indents; the wing has numerous gland-cells, and sometimes as many as sixteen long and very plumose sete, planted in a slight curve a great way from the margin on the inner surface ; the short second joint has a group of pectinate spines at the apex of the front margin; the third joint, which is more than twice as long as broad, has three groups of spines along the front, nine long, much flattened, sete along the hind margin, and a spine at its apex; the fourth joint is longer than the third, and has four groups of rather stout spines along the front, and three mixed groups along the hind margin ; the fifth joint is narrower than the fourth, scarcely longer than the third, with three groups of stout spines along the front, one at the sharply produced apex of the hind margin, and a little higher up a slender group; the finger is half the length of the fifth joint, straight, very slender, with a plumose cilium on the hind margin near the base, several little nodules along the front, of these that near the curved tip of the finger being as usual the largest. D2 20 REY. T. R. R. STEBBING ON THE Fifth pereopods. Side-plates small, with the hind margin crenulate. The branchial yesicle directed forward, not much longer than broad, very much shorter and narrower than the first joint of the limb. The first joint broader than in the preceding pair and as long, the widest part not far from the base, the broad wing containing numerous gland-cells, its irregularly convex border shallowly indented and fringed with spinules, of which, as in the preceding pair, those at the upper part are much larger than those below; the front margin nearly straight or a little convex, with three or four groups of spines; the short second joint having a group of spines at the apex of the front; the third joint decidedly shorter than the fourth, with three groups of spines in front and two or three behind; the fourth joint with four or five groups of spines on the front, and three or four on the hind margin; the fifth joint subequal in length to the fourth, but narrower, with three or four groups of spines in front and two behind; the finger straight, slender, tapering, about half the length of the fifth joint, with seven or eight little nodules along the front margin, and the usual plumose cilium near the base. The whole limb is a little shorter than that of the fourth pair, the difference being chiefly owing to the shorter third joint. Pleopods. The peduncles of the first pair the longest, in all the pairs carrying one or two groups of sete on the lower margin. ‘The coupling-spines (re¢/nacula’) long and slender, with five or six teeth, besides the strongly bent apex; in general there are two only of these organs on the peduncle, but in one instance four were counted ; there is always a plumose spine with them; the cleft spines on the first joint of the inner ramus two or three in number; the spoon-shaped arm much shorter than the serrate one; the inner ramus sometimes with sixteen, the longer outer one with twenty joints. Uropods. The stout peduncle of the first pair subequal in length to the outer ramus, having on the outer margin one or two groups of setiform spines and a row of about seven small spines, and a row of three on the inner margin; the rami are not very long, smooth, the inner much smaller than the outer, both strongly curved, although in some positions the curvature may not be very distinctly seen ; peduncles of the second pair rather shorter and narrower than those of the first, similarly armed, but with rather stronger spines; the rami subequal, the outer almost imperceptibly the longer, both smooth, slightly curved, a little longer than the peduncle ; peduncles of the third pair stouter than the preceding pairs, not longer than broad, having groups of spines about the distal margin; the rami long and moderately broad, extending for nearly their whole length beyond the telson and the other uropods, subequal, fringed with numerous long plumose sete; in one specimen the outer ramus had on its outer margin twenty, two at the apex of the little second joint, and eight on the inner margin; the inner ramus had * In regard to the occurrence of the reténacula in various groups of Crustacea, and their phylogenetic import- ance, see the interesting footnote in ‘ Carcinologische Mittheilungen,’ ix. p. 220, by Paul Mayer, 1880. By Carl Bovallius they had been recognized in his account of “ Pterygocera arenaria.” Dr. Boas calls them in German “ Hefthaken.” When I wrote my ‘Challenger’ report these notices had escaped my attention. GENERA UROTHOE AND UROTHOIDES. 21 nine on the outer margin, two at the apex, and fourteen on the inner margin, In another specimen, also a male, and from the same locality, there were only fifteen sete on the outer and seven on the inner margin of the outer ramus, while in this specimen the second joint was more elongate than in the other. Very little constancy is to be expected in the number of these ornaments, which undoubtedly varies with the age of the animal, as well as probably between individuals of the same age. Telson. Cleft nearly to the base on the upper side and quite to the base on the under side, the cleft gaping a little distally, the convex outer margins having each two cilia near the centre, and a spinule not far from the apex, the distal margin of each half oblique, carrying a feathered cilium, a short stout spine, and three sete. Length of a good-sized specimen one third of an inch. Localities. The specimen figured was taken at a low tide in February 1889, at Cumbrae, in the Clyde, by Mr. David Robertson. Other specimens examined and considered to belong to this species were obtained by M. E. Chevreux, of le Croisic, Loire-Inférieure, off the French coast, and in Balta Sound, Shetland, by Canon Norman. M. Chevreux in recording Urothoe marinus from “ les environs de Cherchell,” says, “le genre Urothoe w était pas représenté jusqu'ici en Méditerranée,” but this is overlooking Urothoe pulchella (Costa). UrorHokr norvecica, Boeck. (Plate IV. B.) 1860. Urothoé norvegica, Boeck, Forhandl. ved de Skand. Naturf. 8de Méde, p. 647. NEV ADS: op Boeck, Crust. Amph. bor. et arct. p. 58. WSS) 55 60 Boeck, De Skand. og Arkt. Amph. p. 226, pl. vi. fig. 9, pl. vii. fig. 4. NSS2i ees, fe Sars, Oversigt af Norges Crustaceer, p. 22. WEI gp cs Chevreux, Crust. Amph. dragués par l’Hirondelle, Bull. Soc. Zool. de France, extr. pp. 18, 15. 1887. e 39 Chevreux, Crust. Amph. Bretagne, Bull. Soc. Zool. de France, t. yi. extr. p. 10. 1888. _,, ys Robertson, Catal. Amph. and Isop. of Clyde, p. 29. Postero-lateral angles of the first three pleon-segments acute, those of the first two only minutely produced. Upper antenne. The first joint of the peduncle stout, the third joint decidedly shorter than the first or second; the flagellum of five joints, together little longer than the first or second joint of the peduncle; the secondary flagellum three-jointed, about half the length of the principal. Lower antenne. Fourth joint of the peduncle longer and much stouter than the fifth, carrying a single row of about sixteen unequal stout spines near the convex margin, and a row of sete apparently unmixed with stout spines; the fifth joint carrying five stout spines and some sete; the flagellum consisting of eighteen naked joints, the structure being indicative of a male not fully adult. Lo bo REY. T. R. R. STEBBING ON THE Mouth-organs as in Urothoe elegans. The palp of the first maaille consists of two equal joints, and has three sete on the apex. First gnathopods. The side-plates with a row of six sete on the truncate distal margin. The limb nearly as in Urothoe elegans, the spine-row at the apex of the wrist consisting of only three or four spines. Second gnathopods nearly as in Urothoe elegans. First and second pereopods scarcely to be distinguished from those of Urothoe elegans, except that the inner margin of the finger, which in that species has very few nodules, is here closely serrate, of the series of projecting points only the large one nearest the tip of the finger being blunt enough to deserve the name of a nodule. Third pereopods distinguished from those of Urothoe elegans by the much rounded lower hind corner of the first joint, fewer plumose sete on the third and fourth joints, and by the close serration of the distal half of the slender tapering finger. Fourth pereopods. The front margin of the first joint has some spinules at four points of the upper part, and at intervals on the lower part four long plumose sete; the third joint is longer than the fourth, the plumose sete on the hind margin missing, but not originally more than three or, at most, four in number; the finger slender, closely serrate for two-thirds of its length. Fifth percwopods nearly as in the female of Urothoe elegans, but here the third and fifth joints are nearly equal in length, the fourth joint being decidedly longer than either, with spines at four points of the front and at three of the hind margin. Pleopods. The peduncles short; the cleft spines two or three; the inner ramus with ten or eleven joints, the outer with thirteen to fifteen. Uropods. Peduncles of the first pair a little longer than the straight slender rami, the outer ramus with one spinule just above the middle, the inner equal in length, smooth ; the peduncle of the second pair not longer than the rami, which are slender, straight, subequal to one another, but shorter than those of the first pair; they are smooth, or possibly there is a spinule on the outer ramus; the peduncles of the third pair are shorter than the rami; the inner ramus is considerably shorter than the outer, with a single seta near the extremity of its outer margin, five or six plumose sete on the inner margin; the outer ramus has a spinule and seta at three points on the lower half of each margin; the second joint is a third the length of the first. Telson cleft nearly to the base so as to form two halves almost oval, but straight at the base, and with the adjoining margins slightly compressed along the upper part ; below the centre of each outer margin there are two cilia, and from an incision in each rounded and rather narrow apex projects a moderately long spine, with a minute cilium adjoining on the outer side. Length about ene fifth of an inch or less. Locality. The Shetland Isles, taken by the Rev. A. M. Norman in 1867. GENERA UROTHOE AND UROTHOIDES, 23 UROTHOE BREVICORNIS, Sp. Bate. (Plate III.; Plate IV. C.) 1862. Urothoé brevicornis, Sp. Bate, Brit. Mus. Catal. Amph. Crust. p. 116, pl. xx. fig. 1. W625 - 5; He Bate & Westwood, British Sess. Crust. vol. 1. p. 198, woodcuts. 1879. ,, marinus, Stebbing, Sess. Crust. Devon., Trans. Devon. Assoe, vol. xi. p. 519. Rostrum forming an obtuse angle, but with a little acute point between the upper antenne. Second pleon-segment with the plumose sete large and numerous, the produced point of the postero-lateral angles minute. Hyes very conspicuous in the male, approaching one another very closely. Upper antenne nearly as in Urothoe marinus. In the adult male specimen the first joint of the peduncle was decidedly longer than the second, and the principal flagellum had seven joints, the accessory flagellum being more than half its length, with six joints, of which the last was minute. Lower antenne, In the adult male peduncle nearly as in Urothoe marinus, but in the fourth joint the brush of hairs not passing round the distal margin; the spines twenty- two in one row, five in the other, the setee more numerous; the fifth joint rather longer than the fourth, with nine calceoli on one side, and eight long plumose sete on the other; the flagellum not once and a half as long as the peduncle, having twenty-three or twenty-four joints, with a calceolus to each of the first three or four, and then on alternate joints for some distance along. In the female the fourth joint is longer than the fifth, and has twenty-five spines in one row, seven in the other, with numerous long serrate setee near the straight inner border, and a group of about a dozen near the produced distal corner of the convex side; the fifth joint has thirteen spines along the convex border, with a group of eight long setie near its distal end, and along the other border some fifteen long sete; the two-jointed flagellum is shorter than the last joint of the peduncle ; the first joint has ten long sete round the distal half, and three spines on one margin; the little second joint is about a quarter the length and not half the breadth of the first, and is tipped with two slender sete several times its own length. Both in male and female the fourth and fifth joints of the peduncle have some little stiff setze or cilia, which are strongly plumose, and appear as if twisted at the centre. Upper lip with a smoothly rounded margin to the principal plate, except that in the centre a little space is marked off by a small notch on either side, the tract so marked off being distally smooth, but furry on the sides. The inner plate appears to have a quite smooth margin not reaching quite to the distal margin of the outer plate. ‘The structure of this lip seems to be tolerably uniform in all the species. Mandibles as in Urothoe marinus, except that the third joint of the palp has nearly two thirds of the inner margin clear of spines. Lower lip as in Urothoe marinus. First maaille. The inner plate with three plumose sete on the apex ; outer plate as in the other species ; palp with the first joint rather longer than the second, the second with the usual three sete on the apex. 24 REY. T. R. R. STEBBING ON THE Second maxille. The plumose sete occupying two thirds of the inner margin of the inner plate. Mazillipeds, probably not to be distinguished from those of Urothoe marinus by any constant character; thus in one specimen one of the outer plates had six, and the other seven, stout spines, while in another specimen each of these plates had eight stout spines. First and second gnathopods not distinguishable from those of Urothoe marinus. In a male specimen from North Wales there were eight spines in the distal spine-row of the wrist, in a female from the same locality ten, and in another female from South Devon fourteen. First and second pereopods scarcely, if at all, distinguishable from those of Urothoe marinus. In the specimens examined the fourth joint had six spines instead of five, and the fifth joint eight spines instead of seven, while the tubercles on the finger were fewer and less pronounced. Third perwopods closely resembling those of Urothoe marinus, but the large first joint with fewer indents on the hind margin, and its apex rather more acute; the third joint has nine or ten spines in each group of its distal margin; the fourth joint ten or eleven in each of its four groups; the fifth joint also has larger groups of spines, and is rather more widened, whereas the distal narrowing of the finger is much less abrupt than in the species compared, and the marginal nodules are smaller. Fourth perwopods nearly resembling those of Urothoe marinus, but the third joint is here rather longer than the fourth, having almost the whole of the hind margin fringed with the long plumose sete. Fifth perwopods closely resembling those of Urothoe marinus, but with the first joint of the limb not wider above than below. In the female the first joint appears to have the front margin more convex than in the male. Pleopods as in Urothoe marinus, but with no more than two cleft spines observed on the ramus of any specimen. Uropods. Peduncle of the first pair much more elongate than in Urothoe marinus, with two groups of setiform spines and five stouter spines on the outer and four spines on the inner margin; the rami slender, subequal in length to one another and to the peduncle, nearly straight, reaching beyond the second pair, the outer having three spines upon it, the inner having a little seta on its inner margin; the peduncle of the second pair much shorter than that of the preceding pair, shorter than the rami, with four spines on the outer and two on the inner margin; the rami subequal, shorter than the preceding pair, straight, the outer with two spines, the inner with a little seta; the peduncle of the third pair rather longer than broad, but otherwise this pair is scarcely, if at all, to be distinguished from the corresponding pair in Urothoe marinus. Telson differing very little from that of Urothoe marinus, the convex margins unbroken GENERA UROTHOE AND UROTHOIDES. bo Or by the insertion of a spinule, the distal margin less broad, carrying a feathered cilium, a spine, and one or two setules. Length. A quarter to a third of an inch. Localities. 'The specimen figured was taken with others of both sexes at Llanfairfechan in North Wales, from the banks of little streams or pools left in the sands at low tide. The species has also been obtained at Goodrington, near Torquay, from the sand left bare at low tide. The specimen to which Spence Bate gave the name drevicornis was taken at Tenby, a locality intermediate between the two just named, and presents such differences from the description of the adult here given as might be expected in an example only a tenth of an inch long. Recently the species has been met with in North Devon. [URorHor Poucueti, Chevreux. 1888. Urothoe Poucheti, Chevreux, Crust. Amph. du littoral des Acores, Bull. Soc. Zool. de France, t. xl. janvier 1888, p. 34. When this paper was sent to the Zoological Society, the type specimen of Urothoe poucheti, which is at present unique, was being exhibited in the Pavillon de Monaco at the Paris Exhibition. It has since been lent me through the kind instrumentality of M. Chevreux, naturally, however, without being available for dissection, which is almost essential for a full and accurate account of a species in this genus. Under this restric- tion the following brief notes were made upon it :— Eyes strikingly large and black, the specimen being a male. First gnathopods. The finger longer than in the second pair. Third pereopods. The lower hinder angle of the first joint well rounded. The third joint not broader than the second, and not strongly spined, but with long plumose sete; the fourth joint not broader than the third; the finger long and slender, the distal half serrate. Fourth perwopods. The first joint having slender spines on the lower part of the front margin, and seven plumose sete within the wing; the third joint longer than the fourth, instead of shorter as in Urothoe elegans. Fifth perwopods. Vront margin of the first joint straight. Uropods. The first pair with the rami equal, slender, not quite so long as the peduncle; the second pair considerably smaller than the first, the rami equal, slender, shorter than the peduncle; the third pair with long rami reaching back beyond those of the first pair. The postero-lateral corners of the third pleon-segment are slightly rounded, almost rectangular. The species approaches Urothoe elegans, Spence Bate, and in regard to the third pereopods it much resembles Urothoe norvegica, Boeck ; but taking all the characters VOL. X1I.—Part I. No. 4.—January, 1891. 10 26 REV. T. R. R. STEBBING ON THE together (see page 9), it must be regarded as distinct from all the earlier known members of the genus.—T. R. R. S., Sept. 1890.] UROTHOIDES, nov. gen. 1888. Urothoe, Stebbing, ‘Challenger’ Amphipoda, Zool. Reports, vol. xxix. p. 824. Nearly resembling Urothoe, Dana, in regard to the antenn, mouth-organs, gnathopods, first and second persopods, and the pleon. Third and fourth perwopods having the first, third, and fourth joints much expanded, the third joint more widely than the fourth ; these limbs not armed with long plumose setae as in Urothoe. Fifth perwopods having the much expanded first joint strongly produced downwards behind, and with a strongly serrate hind margin. The fingers of the perwopods not nodulous on the inner margin. The name is derived from Urothoe, a closely related genus, and eidoe, likeness. UROTHOIDES LACHNERSSA. 1888. Urothoé lachneéssa, Stebbing, ‘ Challenger’ Amphipoda, Zool. Reports, vol. xxix. p. 825, pl. lvu. It is with some hesitation that I now propose a new genus for this recently published species. When originally including it in the genus Urothoe I was not aware how singularly compact a group the existing species of that genus formed, and how intimately connected with one another they were in many minute details. Since the ‘ Challenger’ Report was published I have examined an additional specimen of this species, in which the upper antennz proved to be abnormal. ‘The entire peduncle is stout, the second joint not longer than broad, the third longer than either the first or second, conically produced along two thirds of the first joint of the secondary flagellum. The principal flagellum consists of four joints, the secondary flagellum of three, the first of which is as long as the other two together, and the three together are as long as the principal flagellum. It may be assumed that the malformation results from a coalescence of the third joint of the peduncle with the first one or two joints of the principal flagellum, or it might be more correct to say that the articulations have not been developed so as to produce the usual distinction of these joints. The second segment of the pleon is not armed with long plumose sete as in the genus Urothoe, and the rami of the third uropods are also devoid of these ornaments. In the species of Urothoe the outer of these rami is perhaps invariably longer than the inner, but sometimes the difference is scarcely perceptible, whereas in the present species the difference between the two rami is very great. GENERA UROTHOE AND UROTHOIDES. 27 SUMMARY AND INDEX. The history of the genus may be shown in brief by the following list :— Pages 1852. Urothoe rostratus, Dana: since called Phowocephalus rostratus. . . . . . . . 8,4 TRE ORONO CARO EHO | Dany Wess a. lob Ciol oo en Guat yds Gunes tou nso Jew ce Zid) 1853. Hgidia pulchella, Costa: since called Urothoe pulchella. . . . . ... . . 411 1856. Gammarus elegans, Bate: __,, i WRAL AGTS 55 2 6 oo 5 0 BRB) Op 8 1857. Sulcator marinus, Bate: i oy WROD TRERUOUS) <3 H IIO 1860. Urothoe norvegica, Boeck . . . . . . ww, 6, 7,9, 21 1862. Urothoe bairdii, Bate: since called Urothoe marinus . ou — SCS tw) cn 1862. Urothoe brevicornis, Bate . . . . .. . 1869. Urothoe marinus, Bate, ? var. pectinatus, Grube : 8 1874. Urothoe, species, 8. 1. Smith: since called Harpinia, species . 4, 1879. Urothoe abbreviata, G. O. Sars PCR Vay Ment Lars iene nes 3,9 1880. Urothoe pinguis, Haswell : since called Harpinia(?) pinguis . A. 1888. Urothoe poucheti, Chevreux . EH aw MEA, hoe Myo teesr me Pe 9, 25 1888. Urothoe lachneéssa, Stebbing: since called Urothoides lachneéssa 4, 26 The genus Urothoe is therefore at present composed of the following eight species :— Urothoe abbreviata, Sars. Urothoe marinus, Bate. » Orevicornis, Bate. » norvegica, Boeck. 5, elegans, Bate. 5, poucheti, Chevreux. » trrostratus, Dana. », pulchella (Costa). Should any reader object to finding some of the specific names masculine and others feminine, he is respectfully reminded that among the specimens examined some were males and others females. Of the eight species enumerated, it must be observed that they are more remarkable for their likeness to one another than for any differences that can be discerned. The magnitude of the eyes and the structure of the lower antenne vary greatly with the age and sex of the animal, the most constant feature being that the lower antenne in the female have a two-jointed flagellum. Among the details that appear to prevail throughout the genus may be noticed the vast number of gland-celis over all parts of the body, the transparent caps to the tips of all the fingers, a peculiar spine-row on the wrist of the first gnathopods, and the long plumose seta on the third, fourth, and fifth joints of the third pereopods, on the first joint of the fourth peropods, and on the second segment of the pleon. The species for the most part are to be distinguished from one another only by groups of small differences. Among these, however, a single feature may here and there make itself moderately conspicuous: thus, only Urothoe abbreviata, Sars, is said to be blind; only Urothoe elegans, Sp. Bate, is described as E 2 28 REV. T. R. R. STEBBING ON THE ornamented with rose-coloured markings’. Urothoe pulchella (Costa) has the fourth joint of the third pereopods wider than in any other species. Urothoe marinus, Sp. Bate, alone has the rami of the first and second uropods strongly curved. Urothoe poucheti, Chevreux, appears to be distinguished from all other species by the greater length and stronger armature of the first uropods. Urothoe norvegica, Boeck, shows no very salient difference from Urothoe elegans, unless it may do so in colouring. Urothoe brevicornis, Sp. Bate, makes a near approach to Urothoe marinus, except in regard to its longer and straighter uropods. Dana’s Urothoe irrostratus is the only species at present known from the Pacific. As Spence Bate has pointed out, it makes a near approach to Urothoe elegans; but as the figures and description are incomplete, it is not at present possible to decide whether it is identical with any European species or otherwise. ‘The exact position of Grube’s Urothoe marinus, var. pectinatus, is also doubtful. EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. PLATE I. Urothoe elegans. The full figure is given in lateral view, the three lines above it indicating the natural size of a female, a male, and a young specimen, respectively. a.s. Upper antenna of the male; @.s, v, of the young. ai. Lower antenna of the male; a.i,@?, of the female; a7, v, of the young. 12,9. Lower lip of the female. gn. 1, First gnathopod of the male. gn. 2. Second gnathopod of the male, prp. 1, 2, 8, 4, 5. The first, second, third, fourth, and fifth pereopods respectively, of the male. prp. 2, %. Second pereeopod of the young. prp. 5,%. Fifth pereeopod of a female; prp. 5, v, of the young. ur. 1, 2, 3. The first, second, and third uropods respectively, of the male. ur. 2, ur. 8, 2. Second and third uropods of the female. t. Telson of the male. 1 Yet such markings are still visible in a specimen from Balta Sound, Shetlands, taken by the Rev. A. M. Norman in 1860, and labelled (probably for that very reason) as Urothoe elegans, though otherwise it does not seem to be distinguishable from Urothoe marinus. Hence it is doubtful whether reliance can be placed upon colouring as a distinguishing mark of Urothoe elegans. GENERA UROTHOE AND UROTHOIDES. 29 PLATE iT: Urothoe marinus. The full figure is given in lateral view, with a line above it indicating the natural size. too) too) a.s. Upper antenna. a.t. Lower antenna; only a part of the flagellum drawn. m.m. The pair of mandibles, ma. 1. First maxilla. ma. 2. Second maxilla. mxp. One half of the maxillipeds, and on a larger scale the inner and outer plates of the other half. gu. 1. First gnathopod. gn. 2. Second gnathopod. prp. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. The first, second, third, fourth, and fifth pereeopods respectively ; the figure prp. 3 to the left showing the outer side, and the figure prp. 3 to the right showing the inner side of the limb. plp, sp. Coupling-spines and a cleft spine of the pleopods. ur. 1, 2, 3. First, second, and third uropods respectively. t. Telson. PLATE III. Urothoe brevicornis. The full figure is given in lateral view from a small specimen, the line above it to the right indicating the natural size, the line above it to the left showing the length of a female specimen. The figures of the separate parts were all taken from the male. a.s. Upper antenna. mx. 1, First maxilla. a.i. Lower antenna. gn. 1, First gnathopod. m. Left mandible. gn. 2. Second gnathopod. 1c. Lower lip. prp. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. First, second, third, fourth, and fifth perseopods respectively, both sides of the third pereeopod being shown. Pi.s. 2, Pl.s. 3. The lower portions respectively of the second and third segments of the pleon. ur. 1, 2, 8. First, second, and third uropods respectively. t. Telson. 30 ur. or. tr. ON THE GENERA UROTHOE AND UROTHOIDES. PLATE IV. A. Urothoe pulchella, ¢ . Triturating organs 77 situ in the stomach. qn. 1. First gnathopod. prp. 3. Third pereopod. gn. 2. Second gnathopod. plp, A pair of pleopods. . First, second, and third uropods respectively. t. Telson upturned, and consequently viewed from the underside. I Py Bs . Telson. B. Urothoe norvegica. gn. 1. First gnathopod. prp. 3. Third pereeopod. gn. 2. Second gnathopod. plp. A pair of pleopods. First, second, and third uropods respectively. C. Urothoe brevicornis, 2 . a.t. Lower antenna. i.s. Upper lip. . First, second, and third uropods respectively. tT. Telson. JTRennie Reid .Lith.Edin’ Del. T.R.R.Stebbing. UROTHOE ELEGANS. SP. BATE. iy diay Fras, Lo0€. foe. YoU MU FEM Zz MM init MUG tl Mt i ZA CW fel oe SE ee ur.3 Del. T.RRSte bbing. J.T.Rennie Reid .Lith Edin®™ UROTHOE MARINUS. SP. BATE. Trans, Lovk, doc. Vok, MU He IT Del. TRR.Stebbing. J.T. Rennie Reid LithEdin? UROTHOE BREVICORNIS. SP BATE. 7 ay * We mtn ae) LOL, voc. Yoh SUSE LY Cc ‘ 5 c ea LS La Ne Ba \ (Mii KOS ! e ‘ Del TRR.Stebbinp. ; J.T.Rennie Reid Lith. Edin? UROTHOE PULCHELLA ?(COSTA). UROTHOE NORVEGICA,BOECK. UROTHOE BREVICORNIS ¥SP BATE. yew oa Il. On four new British Amphipoda. By the Rev. Tuomas R. R. Srespine, 1.A., and Davip Rosertson, .L.8., GS. Received September 19th, 1889, read November 19th, 1889. [Puates V., VI.] 1. SOPHROSYNE ROBERTSONI, n. sp. (Plate V. a.) Rostrum minute; the body moderately compressed, with rounded back ; the hinder angles of the first pleon-segment slightly rounded, those of the second squared, those of the third strongly produced upwards, so that a deep cavity is formed on either side between these and the arched dorsal surface of the segment ; the much shallower fourth segment forms dorsally three little humps, two median and one distal; the fifth and sixth segments are very small. The integument is closely speckled. Eyes not perceived. Upper antenne. First joint shorter than the head, once and a half as long as broad, as long as the six-jointed flagellum, the second joint not half as long as the first, and about twice as long as the third; the flagellum tapering, the first joint narrower but a little longer than the last of the peduncle, each joint with one or two filaments; the secondary flagellum slender, three-jointed, the last joint minute. Lower antenne. Gland-cone very prominent; third joint longer than broad, fourth joint longer than the fifth; the flagellum eight-jointed, slender, tapering, the first six joints together being about as long as the fourth joint of the peduncle. Mandibles. The trunk slender, the cutting-edge narrow, apparently with a denticle at either end; molar tubercle wanting; palp set far forward, much longer than the trunk, first joint short, second elongate, slightly curved near the base, with one spine near the distal end, the third joint as long as the second, distally truncate, with four unequal spines on the extremity and one a little below it. First maxille. The inner plate small and low down; the outer plate forming a single apical tooth, with a little denticle on its side; the palp was broken in dissection. Second maxille. ‘The inner plate much shorter and narrower than the outer, with three minute setules near or at the rounded apex, the much larger outer plate having four setules similarly situated. Maxillipeds, The inner plate very small, not reaching to the base of the outer plate, carrying a single spinule on the apex; one of the pair of plates was in the specimen much smaller than the other; the outer plate longer but narrower than the first joint of the peduncle, having two or three spinules on the inner margin, and four somewhat larger on the apex; the first joint of the peduncle rather longer than broad, the second much longer, with two groups of spines on the inner margin and one at the outer apex ; 32 REV. T. R. R. STEBBING AND MR. D. ROBERTSON ON the third joint rather shorter and narrower than the second, with several spines about the distal two thirds; the curved finger nearly as long as the third joint, with the dorsal setule not very near the base. Triturating organ. One margin fringed with ten graduated spines, which are short and moderately stout, not serrate. First gnathopods. The side-plates broad above, so as to project much beyond the upper part of the segment. The first joint broad, not very long, deeply channelled, with some spinules on the front margins, and a group of spines at the hinder apex ; the second joint as broad as long, channelled, with spines along the hind margin; the third joint much longer than broad, with about a dozen spines and half a dozen sete along the serrate hind margin, which is pointed at the apex; the wrist triangular, distally broader than the length, the front margin convex, with an apical spine, the hinder apex having a graduated series of five spines with several sete; the hand much longer than the wrist and broad, but much longer than broad, with the front margin convex, the hinder concave, armed with two spines, and ending in a long slender tooth, the palm smooth, sinuous, the surface of the hand and the apex of the hind margin having a few setee or spines; the finger closely fits the palm, except that its tip overlaps the apical tooth. One of this pair of gnathopods was in the specimen rather smaller than the other. Second gnathopods. Side-plates longer but narrower than those of the first pair. Branchial vesicles broader but a little shorter than the side-plates, apically almost pointed. Marsupial plates very narrow, with three sete at the apex. First joint of the limb elongate, narrow, a little widened distally ; second joint longer than the third or hand; the third joint having much of the convex hind margin furred with setules ; the wrist narrow, elongate, about half the length of the first joint, the front and hind margins furred with setules; the hand less than two thirds the length of the wrist, the margins nearly parallel, except near the base, both furred with setules, the hind margin distally carrying scale-like spinules, the apical margin having the usual spines; the finger minute, broad at the base, apically narrow and hooked, the dorsal setule median. First pereopods. The side-plates like the preceding pair, but larger. The first joint not reaching below the side-plate, with setules along the front margin, and a spine or two at the hinder apex; the second joint is armed at three points of the hind margin ; the third joint at eight points of the hind margin and the produced apex of the front; the fourth joint, much narrower and shorter than the third, has sete at four points of the hind margin ; the fifth joint is longer but narrower than the fourth, with sete at two or three points; the finger is slightly curved, a little shorter than the fifth joint. Second perwopods. ‘The side-plates excavate behind to more than half the depth of the plate. The limb similar to the preceding pair, but with the third joint a little shorter. Third pereopods. Side-plates of equal breadth and length, the front margin convex, NEW BRITISH AMPHIPODA. 33 the hinder nearly straight. The first joint a little longer than the side-plates, but not so broad, pear-shaped, with spines at eleven points of the convex front margin, and with a little serration at the top of the hind margin; the second joint almost embedded in the first; the third much shorter than in the two preceding pairs, with spines at two points of the hinder and four of the front margin; the fourth joint shorter and narrower than the third, with spines at three points of the front margin; the fifth joint narrower but longer than the fourth, with spines at two or three points of the front; the finger slightly curved, nearly as long as the fifth joint. Fourth perwopods. The side-plates narrower and a little shorter than the preceding pair, more strongly bilobed below. ‘he first joint much longer than in the preceding pair, elongate oval, the front margin with spines at eleven points, the hind margin slightly serrate; the second joint rather longer than broad; the third joint similar to that in the preceding pair, but larger; the fourth nearly as long, with spines at four points in front; the fifth narrower, but as long, with spines at four points; the finger a little shorter than the fifth joint. Fifth pereopods. Side-plates much smaller than the preceding pair, not bilobed, the hind margin very convex, the front straight. The first joint a little longer than broad, as long as in the preceding pair and much wider, almost all the front margin fringed with spines, the hind margin roughly serrate; the other joints nearly as in the third pair, but the third and fourth joints smaller, and the finger as long as the smooth fifth joint. Pleopods. Vhe coupling-spines small, two in number, with two lateral teeth near the reflexed apex ; the cleft spines two in number, the arms nearly equal; the joints of the inner ramus seven or eight, those of the outer eight or nine in number. Uropods. The peduncles of the first pair longer than the rami, with several spines on the margins, the rami slender, tapering, subequal, the outer carrying three spines, the inner a single one; the peduncles of the second pair shorter than the rami, which are nearly as long as those of the first pair, the outer a little the longer, armed with two spines, the inner being unarmed; the peduncles of the third pair scarcely longer than broad, the rami smooth, slender, subequal, smaller than those of the preceding pair. Telson flanked for more than half its length by the produced sides of the sixth segment, divided for more than a third of the length, the slightly indented apices not quite reaching the distal end of the peduncles of the third urepods. Length one quarter of an inch. Locality. The Clyde. One specimen, female, containing eight or nine rather large eggs in a forward state of development. From Sophrosyne murray, taken at Kerguelen Island, the new species’ differs in 1 It is proper to mention that Mr. David Robertson, my colleague in this paper, by whom this and the other specimens described were captured, only assented to the adoption of the specific name robertsont at my particular request.—T. R. R. 8. VoL. X11.—PartT 1. No. 5.—January, 1891. F 34 REY. T. R. R. STEBBING AND MR. D. ROBERTSON ON several small details; the second joint of the upper antenne is less elongate, the armature of the first gnathopods is slighter, the hand of the second gnathopods is differently shaped, the third segment of the pleon is dorsally curved downwards instead of being posteriorly squared, the telson is longer than broad and less deeply cleft. In general features the two species are remarkably alike, and now that this rather striking genus is found to have a representative in one of our own estuaries, it seems singular that it should have first been made known to us from Antarctic waters. 2. SYRRHOH FIMBRIATUS, n. sp. (Plate V. B.) The third segment of the pleon with the lower hinder angles produced into an acute upturned point, the two preceding segments having these angles acute, but only slightly produced. ‘The dorsal denticles apparently present on some or all of these segments were not clearly made out. The sixth segment of the pleon fringed behind with a close-set row of spinules. Upper antenne. First joint stout, longer and much broader than the second, which is nearly twice as long as the third; the flagellum longer than the peduncle, the first joint as long as the first of the peduncle, and as long as the six following joints united, armed with a brush of long filaments; the secondary flagellum three-jointed, the small third joint not quite reaching the end of the second joint of the principal flagellum. Lower antenne. The first joint broader than long, overlapping the little acute gland- cone of the second joint, the third joint a little longer than broad, the fourth longer than the three preceding united, rather shorter than the fifth, each of these two carrying tufts of setules; the flagellum very slender, longer than the peduncle, consisting probably of ten or twelve joints, of which eight were present. Upper lip. The central part of the distal margin forms an almost semicircular lobe, which in the dissection was folded back, but whether this may be its natural position or only accidental, could not be determined. Mandibles. Cutting-edge having two teeth and a smooth border on the left mandible, on the right having only the two teeth; the secondary plate small with four teeth, which are blunt on the left, and delicately sharp on the right mandible; the molar tubercle broad and strong; the first joint of the palp longer than broad, the second joint elongate, slightly curved, with four groups of sete, the third joint broken, probably very short. First maxille. The palp has on the apex five spines and one spine on the outer margin below the apex. Second maaille. The inner plate appears to be broader than the outer, both plates carrying numerous long spines. Maxillipeds. Inner plates broad, reaching a little beyond the first joint of the palp, the inner margin produced into a small distal tooth, the distal part of the plate bordered with nine plumose sete; the outer plates not quite reaching the end of the NEW BRITISH AMPHIPODA. 39 second joint of the palp, fringed with eight or nine spine-teeth; the second joint of the palp the longest, not very strongly spined. First gnathopods. The side-plates, like the somewhat larger second pair, oblong, directed forwards. ‘The first joint of the limb a little widened distally, carrying a few slender spines; the second joint having some slender spines at the apex of the hind margin; the third joint more or less oblong, with five spines on the lower part of the hind margin; the wrist not twice as long as the hand, furry on both margins, the hind margin being also fringed with spines; the hand broadest near the base, the front regularly convex, with spines at the apex, the hind margin convexly angled, carrying a few partially pectinate spines, the surface of the hand furry; the finger about half the length of the hand, broadest at the base, with spines at the centre, where at the inner margin it abruptly narrows. Second gnathopods. The first joint longer than in the first pair, with a few feathered spines or sete on the hind margin ; the wrist and hand longer than in the first pair; the wrist twice as long as the hand, slender, furry, and carrying a few spines; the hand also slender, furry, with an oblique row of spines on the distal part; the finger much curved, about a third the length of the hand. First perwopods. Side-plates longer than the preceding pair, distally widened. Branchial vesicles about equal in length and breadth to the side-plates, but with curved margins. The limb slender, the first joint reaching a little below the side- plate, the third joint with convex front margin, shorter than the fourth, which is straight and armed on the hind margin with a few spinules; the fifth joint rather longer than the third, shorter than the fourth, with spinules at four points of the hind margin; the finger curved, about half the length of the preceding joint. Second perwopods. The side-plates with convex front and lower margin, the hinder excavate. Branchial vesicles and limb as in the preceding pair, but the fourth joint more elongate. Third perwopods. The side-plates longer than deep, only slightly bilobed. The first joint narrowly oval, slightly serrate, the third wider but shorter than the fourth, the fourth than the fifth, each of the three having small spines at three or four points of each margin; the finger slender, nearly straight, more than half the length of the fifth joint. Fourth perwopods. The side-plates with the length and depth equal. The lmb similar to the preceding pair, but with the third, fourth, and fifth joints much longer ; and the finger about half the length of the preceding joint. Fifth pereopods. The side-plates very shallow, longer than deep. The broadly ovat first joint longer and much wider than in the two preceding pairs, the third joint larger than in the preceding pair and more produced downwards behind, the remainder of the limb similar to that of the fourth pair. Pleopods. The two coupling-spines long and slender, serrate on each side, with two, F2 36 REY. T. R. R. STEBBING AND MR. D. ROBERTSON ON three, or four teeth near the apex ; the cleft spines three in number ; the joints of the inner ramus nine, of the outer ten. Uropods. In the first pair the peduncle is scarcely so long as the longer ramus, which is straight, almost smooth, except for the group of spines on the truncate apex; the smaller ramus is similar to the larger, but not quite half as long; in the second pair the peduncle is longer than the short ramus, and a little more than half the length of the longer one, which is acutely lanceolate, carrying six spinules on one border and three on the other; the smaller ramus is less than half as long or as broad as its companion, but a little longer than the similar ramus of the first pair; in the third pair the peduncle is shorter than the rami, more than twice as long as broad, the rami acute, the inner rather the longer, with six or seven plumose sete on the inner margin, the outer ramus having five spines and one plumose seta on the inner margin, nearly a third of the length of the ramus forming a second joint. Telson elongate, cleft for more than half its length, reaching considerably beyond the peduncles of the third uropods, the acute apices having each a setule in a notch on the inner side; there are also three or four setules arranged near each lateral margin. Length. This small and delicate species was dissected before the measurement of the body had been taken. Locality. Clyde. Remarks. The specific name alludes to the distinguishing fringe of spinules upon the sixth segment of the pleon. 3. PODOCEROPSIS PALMATUS, n. sp. (Plate VI. a.) Lateral angles of the head rather acutely produced between the upper and lower antenne. yes nearly round, situated on the lateral lobes of the head, in the preserved specimen showing a light rim round a black centre. Upper antenne. The first joint twice as long as broad, channelled ; second joint once and a half as long as the first, much narrower, slightly curved, with sete at four points of the lower margin; third joint a little longer than the first, with sete at three points ; flagellum of five or more rather elongate joints carrying filaments; the secondary flagellum very slender, two-jointed, shorter than the first joint of the principal flagellum, the second joint minute, tipped with setules. Lower antenne. The third joint as long as the first and second united, distally a little widened. The remainder of the antenne missing. Mandibles. Cutting-edge divided into five unequal teeth; the secondary plate on the left mandible has four teeth, that on the right about six denticles; the spine-row on the left consists of five spines, denticulate between the widest part and the apex; on the right mandible there are only four spines; the molar tubercle has an almost circular denticulate crown with a seta at the hind corner; the palp is much longer than the NEW BRITISH AMPHIPODA. 37 trunk, set far forward, the first joint rather longer than broad, the second about three times as long as broad, with several setee along the front, and one or two on the hind margin; the rather shorter third joint has four or five sete or spines near the hind margin, and several on the truncate apex and distal part of the front margin. first maxille. The long second joint of the palp has four spine-teeth on the truncate apex. Mazxillipeds. Ynner plates not reaching the middle of the outer, and these not reaching the middle of the second joint of the palp, the spine-teeth on the inner margin passing into curved spines on the apical border, the series about nine in number; the long second joint of the palp fringed, but not closely, with sete; the third joint scarcely so long as the first, the fourth much shorter; the blunt apex tipped with spines. First gnathopods. Side-plates distally widened. First joint slightly curved, reaching beyond the side-plates, the third joint almost oblong, with spines on the convex front and along the apical margin; the wrist fully as long as the hand, not very much shorter than the first joint, with slender spines on the surface, round the distal border, and in two groups on the hind margin; the convex front border of the hand carrying four groups of very slender spines, of which the much shorter hind margin has two groups, the deeply excavate palm being bordered with spinules and a group of spines; the finger slender, curved, reaching beyond the extremity of the palm and its palmar spine, and having some minute setules and microscopic furring along its inner margin, which has also a very small tooth far from the apex. Second gnathopods. The side-plates larger and of more uniform width than the first pair. ‘The first joint reaching beyond the side-plates, not longer aud very much narrower than the hand, the third joint rather longer than in the first pair, but with fewer spines; the wrist triangular, cup-shaped, about half the length of the hand, which is much wider, broadly oblong, with several groups of slender spines along the hind margin, and one or two on the smoothly convex palm, which is left partly exposed by the slender curved finger, as this bends almost abruptly from the hinge on to the inner surface of the hand, its acute tip reaching beyond the middle of that surface, the concave margin having setules at three or four points. The general resemblance of this limb to the corresponding one in Melita palmata (Montagu) may be noted. First perwopods. Side-plates rather larger than the preceding pair. Branchial vesicles small. The first joint reaching below the side-plate, both margins convex, the hinder carrying two or three very slender spines; the third joint about once and a half as long as broad, slightly armed at two points of each margin; the fourth joint narrower and shorter than the third, with very convex front margin; the fifth joint subequal in length to the third, with spinules at three points of the straight hind margin; the finger curved, not much shorter than the fifth joint. 38 REV. T. R. R. STEBBING AND MR. D. ROBERTSON ON Second perwopods closely resembling the first. Third perwopods. Side-plates with the front lobe nearly as deep as the preceding pair, the hinder lobe much shallower. Branchial vesicles small. The first joint some- what broadly pear-shaped, almost entirely unarmed; the third joint longer than the fourth, shorter than the fifth, the two latter having straight parallel margins, with rather long spines at the hinder apex; the finger curved, not half the length of the fifth joint. Fourth perwopods. Side-plates small, bilobed. The first joint a little longer but narrower than in the preceding pair; the rest of the limb similar to the preceding pair, but with the joints longer and more strongly armed. Fifth perwopods similar to the preceding pair, but on a larger scale, and the first joint fringed with spinules on both margins. Pleopods. The two coupling-spines short and small, each with two pairs of reverted teeth; cleft spines two in number, joints of the rami about seven. Uropods. Peduncles of the first pair rather longer than the inner ramus, carrying spines of various sizes at three or four points of the upper margin and a long one at the apex of the lower; each ramus has spines at two points of the upper margin and a large group at the rather blunt apex; the outer ramus is a good deal shorter than the inner; the peduncles of the second pair have a length intermediate between the lengths of the two rami, which resemble those of the first pair, but are a little smaller; the peduncles of the third pair are nearly as long as those of the second, longer and much stouter than the rami, which are equal, slender, acute, with spines at two points of the upper margin. Telson. The breadth at the base equal to the length, the apical margin slightly concave, equal to more than half the greatest breadth of the telson; on either side a couple of spinules are planted on a raised ridge that runs obliquely incurved from each corner of the apical margin. Length scarcely a sixth of an inch. Locality. Cambrae, in the Clyde. A single specimen. Remarks. ‘The specific name has been chosen because of the likeness presented by the second gnathopods to those of Montagu’s species, J/elita palmata. The secondary flagellum of the upper antenne is a little less rudimentary than in most species of Podoceropsis. 4, PODOCERUS CUMBRENSIS, n. sp. (Plate VI. B.) Rostrum small and blunt, lateral lcbes of the head produced into a blunt point just in front of the eye. Hinder angle of the third pleon-segment bluntly produced. Eyes round, composed of fifty or sixty ocelli. Upper antenne. ‘The first joint rather longer than broad, the lower margin carrying spinules at three points; second joint considerably longer than the first, with slender NEW BRITISH AMPHIPODA. 39 slightly feathered spines at five points of the lower margin; the third joint shorter than the second, with spines at five or six points; the flagellum of three joints, together not so long as the first two of the peduncle; the secondary flagellum consisting of a single joint less than a half or sometimes a third of the first joint of the principal flagellum. Lower antenne. Gland-cone small, the third joint with a lobe at the distal margin on either side, the fourth joint not longer than the fifth, distally widened, the fifth joint rather longer than the three-jointed flagellum. In general appearance the lower antenne from the third joint onwards greatly resemble the upper, but they are stouter and a little longer. Mandibles. The cutting-edge has four teeth; the secondary plate on the left mandible has also four teeth, but on the right an irregularly serrate edge; the spine-row consists of three serrate spines; the molar tubercle is strong, with a little denticulate plate in a recess of the forward margin; the first joint of the palp is short, distally widened, the second joint is broad, with nine plumose spines on the convex margin; the third joint is also broad, but shorter than the second, with a transverse row of four spines on the surface, and about fourteen on the apex and adjoining border. Lower lip. The outer lobes rather broad, lightly furred. First and second maaille, so far as observed, differing little from those of Podocerus falcatus (Montagu). Maxillipeds. The inner plates having two spine-teeth on the apical margin and one on the inner, and four curved spines about the apical margin ; the outer plates reaching beyond the middle of the second joint of the palp, carrying three spine-teeth on the inner and four on the distal margin; the third joint of the palp a little more than half the length of the second; the fourth joint short and blunt, tipped with spines longer than itself. First gnathopods. The side-plates very small, almost concealed under the following pair, the lower margin a little indented. ‘The limb small, the first joint curved, having along seta or slender spine below the middle of the convex hind margin; the wrist triangular, scarcely longer than the oblong third joint, each having some spines about the distal margin and a few on the inner surface; the hand oval, about twice as long as the wrist, with several slender spines along the hind margin and about the inner surface; the palm ill-defined, except by the set of three palmar spines, among which the tip of the curved finger closes, reaching a little beyond them. Second gnathopods. The side-plates very much longer than the first pair, with convex front margin directed forwards. The branchial vesicles remarkably small, In the male the first joint channelled, shorter than the hand; the second joint channelled, distally widened; the third joint scarcely longer than the second, with a couple of setules at the apex; the wrist absorbed into the hand, which is very large, when full- grown two and a half times as long as broad, the front margin convex, the hind margin 40 REV. T. R. R. STEBBING AND MR. D. ROBERTSON ON having near the base a projecting tooth, which attains to a length equalling the breadth of the hand, near to the distal extremity of which this margin forms a much smaller tooth; the varied relations of size between these two teeth are illustrated in the figures qn. 2, gn. 2.4, and gn. 2B; a very long, much curved finger arches over the small cavity formed between the hinge and the distal tooth and the large cavity between the two teeth ; in some cases the inner margin of the finger has a small prominence approaching the distal tooth of the hand; there are several slender sete about the hinder margin and teeth of the hand, and setules along the inner edge of the finger. In the female the marsupial plates are longer and broader than the first joint and are fringed with sete. ‘The first joint of the limb is longer than the hand, which is here distinct from the wrist, the whole limb being very similar to that of the first pair, but a little larger. First pereopods. The side-plates much broader than the preceding pair, with the front margin convex, the lower and the hind margin straight. The branchial vesicles very small. The first joint with convex front and hind margins, the latter having three sete planted near the middle; the third joint armed at two points on each margin, much widened distally ; the fourth joint only a little longer than the second, armed at two or three points of the hind margin and at the apex of the convex front; the fifth joint as long as the third, armed at three points of each margin; the finger curved, rather stout, more than half the length of the fifth joint. Second perwopods. The side-plates large, almost square, with convex front margin, and the hinder a little excavated. The limb as in the preceding pair. Third pereopods. The side-plates small. ‘The first joint pear-shaped, the convex hind margin very slightly indented, the remainder of the limb nearly as in the two preceding pairs, but rather more slightly constructed. Fourth pereopods resembling the third, but with the hind margin of the first joint more strongly indented, and all the joints more elongate. Fifth perwopods. The first joint broadest at the centre, the hind margin very convex, the front only slightly ; the limb in general resembling that of the preceding pair, but with the joints more elongate. Pleopods. The two coupling-spines very short, with two or three teeth ; the peduncles have also here and there a plumose seta; the cleft spines are two or three in number, where there are three the third being much longer than the first; the joints of the inner ramus from five to seven, of the outer from six to eight. Uropods. Peduncles of the first pair longer than the rami, of which the inner has small spines at four points, the outer at three, the outer being rather the shorter; in the second pair the peduncle is longer than the outer, but rather shorter than the inner ramus; the peduncles of the third pair are stout, longer than those of the second pair, with a spine at two points of the upper margin ; the shorter outer ramus is fringed above on the distal half with a graduated series of about nine minute denticles, the NEW BRITISH AMPHIPODA. 4] larger ones near the apex; the rather longer straight inner ramus has a little spine at the extremity. Telson triangular, as broad at the base as the length, the upper angles and the apex rounded, each margin carrying a setule near the apex; the telson reaches about halfway along the peduncles of the third uropods. Length an eighth of an inch. Locality. Clyde. Obtained in some numbers at a depth of 20 fathoms, off Fairlie Perch, in February 1889. Remarks. 'The specific name is derived from Cumbrae, an island in the Clyde. This species makes some approach to Podocerus minutus, Sars, but is clearly distinguished from it by the three-jointed flagella in both pairs of antenne, by the small concealed first pair of side-plates, the hand of the second guathopods in the female not excavate, and the large tooth of that hand in the male being simple instead of double-ended EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. PLATE V. A. Sophrosyne robertsoni, n. sp. The full figure is given in lateral view, with a line above it indicating the natural size. a.s. Upper antenna. mx. 2. Second maxilla. a.i. Lower antenna. map. Maxillipeds. m. Mandible. o.t. Triturating organ, from the stomach. mx. 1, First maxilla, the palp imper- gu. 1. First gnathopod. fect. gn. 2. Second gnathopod. prp. 2, 3, 4, 5. Second, third, fourth, and fifth pereeopods respectively. sp. of plp. Coupling-spines and a cleft spine of a pleopod. ur. 1, 2, 3. First, second, and third uropods respectively, the telson being shown in combination with the second and third uropods. B. Syrrhoé fimbriatus, n. sp. a.s. Upper antenna. ai. Lower antenna. m.m. The right mandible, with the palp imperfect, and a portion of the left mandible. gn. 1. First gnathopod. gn. 2. Second gnathopod. prp. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. First, second, third, fourth, and fifth peraeopods respectively. plp. 1. First pleopod. Pi.s. 3. Lower lateral portion of third segment of the pleon. ur. 1, 2, 3. First, second, and third uropods respectively. t. Telson. VOL. XIII.—PART 1. No. 6.—January, 1891. G 49 ON NEW BRITISH AMPHIPODA. PLATE VI. A. Podoceropsis palmatus, n. sp. The full figure is given in lateral view, with a line above it indicating the natural size. a.s. Upper antenna. m.m. Right and left mandibles at the right and left corners of the Plate respectively. mip. Maxilliped. gn. 1. First gnathopod. gn. 2. Second gnathopod. prp. 1, 3, 4, 5. First, third, fourth, and fifth pereeopods respectively. ur. 1, 2, 3. First, second, and third uropods respectively. tT. Telson. B. Podocerus cumbrensis, n. sp. The full figure is given in lateral view, with a line above it indicating the natural size. oc. One of the eyes adjoining the lower angle of the head. a.s. Upper antenna. a... Lower antenna. m.m. The left mandible and the anterior portion of the right mandible. 1.2.8. Lower lip. ‘lhis and the other parts marked B were figured from another specimen, not from that drawn at the top of the Plate. me. 1B. First maxilla. mx. 2B. Second maxilla. map. Maxillipeds, seen from the outer surface, but with outer plate and palp removed from the half to the right so as to expose the inner plate. gn. 1, gn. 1,2. First gnathopod of male and female respectively. gn. 2, gn. 24, gn. 2B. Second gnathopod of the male, three different specimens. gn. 2,2. Second gnathopod of female. prp. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. First, second, third, fourth, and fifth pereeopods respectively. ur. 1, 2, 3. First, second, and third uropods respectively. T, T.B. Telson. Trams Loo€ oe Vol MM FEV Sp.of plp. N f ae 0 plp. Del TRR.Stebbinp J.T.Rennie Reid Lith Edin? SOPHROSYNE ROBERTSONI!I, N. SP. SYRRHOE RIMBIR TALUS) IN: (Sie: Trams. Lo0€. Hoc. Vek AM SEV J.T Rennie Rerd Lith Edin? Del. TRRStebbing. PO IDOCG HIRO Sis) VME OS IN 1Sie PODOCERUS CUMBRENSIS, N. SP. III. On the Morphology of a Reptilian Bird, Opisthocomus cristatus. By W. K. Parxer, FBS. Received January 4th, 1890, read February 4th, 1890. [Puates VII.—X.] Conrents. Page I. Introductory Remarks on the Present Existence of Birds clesely related bowReptilesy it nipacscpcvamcacnenet Ants veecoxckas sucnsvere reieiousncnede cohen apeueaamucuctebonttieie 44 II. The Early Stages of Opisthocomus cristatus.........2 +. cece cece eens 48 III. The Skull of Opisthocomus eristatus in Embryos and Adult ............ 49 IV. The Vertebral Chain of Opisthocomus cristatus 1.1.1... 0. sees eeeeees 59 VY. The Sternum and Shoulder-girdle of Opisthocomus cristatus ............ 64 WAE DhesWineslofsOpisihocomus) cnzstatus seismic cl sleieisiciels eieieieieleeicle 69 VII. The Hip-girdle of Opisthocomus cristatus 1... 0... cece cece ee cece eee 74 VIII. The Hind Limb of Opisthocomus cristatus .........-...5..--0---0ces 77 IX. Recapitulation and Summary. a. The Ornithological Position of Opisthocomus .........-00eeeeeeee 80 6. The Light cast upon the Ontogeny of Birds by the Morphology of ORSVMCUTES 90500000000060000000000000020000000000000000 81 OS MUSH OF A AEITOND ooaboooacoooconbddceco0b DoD DUdCOOODOHaSOAC 83 XIE PDescriptionvoistheek aves peer eetolelrrockhdsk tiki teiorenarr teeters 84 EARLY last year Mr. Sclater received from Mr. John J. Quelch, C.M.Z.S., of the Museum, Georgetown, British Guiana, a series of embryos of the Hoatzin (Opistho- conus cristatus). Some of these, after due examination by Mr. F. E. Beddard1, were sent to me by Mr. Sclater. My study of the adult has been from the two skeletons in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, kindly lent me by the President, Sir W. Savory, and the Curator, Prof. Charles Stewart. I take this opportunity of thanking all these friends for their kindness. Hitherto my knowledge of the structure of the skeleton of this bird has been derived from Prof. Huxley's masterly description, given partly in his paper “On the Classification of Birds,” and more completely in his paper ‘‘ On the Classification and Distribution of the Alectoromorphe and Heteromorphe” (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1867, pp. 415-472; and ibid. 1868, pp. 294-319). * See Mr. Beddard’s paper, ‘ Ibis,’ 1889, p. 283. VOL. XII.—PART U. No. 1.—April, 1891. HW 44 PROF. W. K. PARKER ON THE I had also made my own observations on the skeleton of an old male bird of this species in the Hunterian Museum. Judging from the figures given by Prof. Huxley in his second paper, I am of opinion that the specimens there figured were from skeletons of female birds. What struck me at first in the Hunterian specimen was that it is much more like the skeleton of a strong Curassow (Craz) than those from which Prof. Huxley’s illus- trations were taken; these latter have a very Musophagine appearance ; they suggest an evident relation to the Plaintain-Eaters. Thus, while I am glad to refer to those figures, and the excellent descriptions given of them, and the accompanying remarks on the affinities of this bird, my own notions of the structure of the adult, here given, will be from observations on the Hunterian specimen. I. Introductory Remarks on the Present Existence of Birds closely related to Reptiles. Two or three facts must be noticed at the outset of these remarks: namely, first, that the known extinct forms are very few in proportion to the multitudes of those that are still alive ; secondly, that the Tertiary forms are closely related to existing types, and throw but little light on their origin; and, thirdly, that the very few most precious relics of the Secondary Rocks startle us at once by being tooth-bearers—not like our familiar forms with their horny beaks. Leaving out of consideration the mysterious and apparently quite isolated Archwopteryx, the types described by Dr. Marsh in his magnificent work on the “Odontornithes, or Extinct Toothed Birds of N. America,” 1880, teach some very remarkable facts. If there is one modification of the skeleton of a bird which, more than any other, is peculiar and typical, it is the mode in which the presacral vertebree, in the majority of cases, are articulated together; I refer to the cylindroidal or heteroccelous condition of the centra. I lately showed (Proc. Roy. Soc. 1888, pp. 465-482) that a much greater number of modern or existing birds than was hitherto supposed retain the old Reptilian or Opisthoccelous condition in several of their presacral vertebre, namely, in the dorsal region; and that this condition is seen in arboreal Altrices, as well as in aquatic and semiaquatic Preecoces. If that is not a reptilian character I know of no one that can be described as such; it is equal in value, in my opinion, to anything that can be found in the skull, the shoulder-girdle, or in any other part of the skeleton. For practical ornithological purposes the existing birds may be fenced off into two groups, namely, the Ratitee and the Carinate. We thus get some two dozen archaic forms, mostly from the Southern Hemisphere, and twelve thousand modern forms with the Old World at their feet. Now all the existing Ratite have their presacral vertebre cylindroidal ; whilst some of the most highly specialized and large- MORPHOLOGY OF OPISTHOCOMUS CRISTATUS. 45 brained forms, for instance the Parrot family, have opisthoccelous dorsals. Moreover, classifying the Toothed Birds of Marsh by their sternum, the type that is one of the Carinatee has a still lower kind of vertebral articulation than the opisthoccelous ; Ichthy- ornis has nearly all its presacrals amphiccelous; whilst Hesperornis, which is one of the Ratite, has its presacrals cylindroidal. Nor is this all; if Hesperornis has any living descendants, or even representatives, these are the existing Loons (Colymbide) and Grebes (Podicipedide). But the Carinate [chthyornis appears to me to be an ancient toothed Sea-Gull, one of the Laridee ; and yet the existing Gulls are far more intelligent birds, birds of a higher order than the Loons and the Grebes. Now the Gulls have not only opistho- ceelous dorsals, but the last presacral joint is nearly amphiccelous, as in their Cretaceous quasi-ancestral relative the [chthyornis. With regard to that character by which the Struthious birds are most definitely marked off from the ordinary flying birds, namely the flat breast-bone, correlated with almost useless wings, quite useless as organs of flight, it is not too much to say that this is a modern and an acquired character. The fact that the vertebral chain in these low birds is longer than what is the average in the Carinatee is a noticeable and important fact; but they all fail in the caudal region; their free caudals are always fewer than in the Carinate. Amongst the Carinate, however, there are some birds, namely the Swans, which have a longer vertebral chain than the large Struthious birds. This abortive development of the tail is also manifestly an acquired character, like the starving of the wings and sternal keel. But this is part of the same specialization of these types in which all the strength goes to the hinder limbs, making them so perfectly adapted for terrestrial life—in the case of the Ostrich especially, which is a bird as exquisitely fitted for swift running as its desert companion the Wild Ass. As for what is most archaic and quasi-reptilian in the Ostrich tribe, that is to be looked for in the skull and its contents. ‘Those Carinate that come nearest to these birds, the Tinamous, have also an extremely small brain and low intelligence ; and in some things, namely in the retention of cranial sutures and in the development of one or even two rows of superorbital dermal bones, they are more reptilian than the Ratite themselves. But these birds, and the one treated of in this paper, Opisthocomus, have retained good functional wings, and in the former, the 'Tinamous, a very large sternal keel, although only the most Gallinaceous species has the sense to fly *. The Hoatzin (Opisthocomus) rather flits than flies ; its flying power is about equal to that of the heavier Fowls (Turkey, Peacock, &c.); but it is an arboreal type, like its nearest relatives the “‘ Peristeropodous ” Cracide ; the Tinamous are the sub-struthious relations of the Grouse, which are “ Alectoropodous ”—have a high hallux, and are mainly terrestrial birds. It comes to this, namely, that birds, like men, must be classified by their brain power See Frederic A. Lucas, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 1886, pp. 157, 158. H 2 46 PROF. W. K. PARKER ON THE and intelligence: a Rook has a lesser body than an average Tinamou, but it has three times its bulk of brain; the Raven and the Ostrich stand at the extremities of the bird series. Opisthocomus is not the only Neotropical type that belongs to the region round about the Ostrich territory; I have just mentioned the Tinamous, and there are several other rare, unclassifiable, and manifestly archaic types in the rich Avifauna of the American Tropics. It is in the Neotropical Region that we find the most archaic forms of every family. It is there also that we meet with the low harsh-voiced Passerines, aberrant in various ways; Cuculine forms that are so torpid that they become a mass of fat (Steaternis) ; and true Cuckoos (Geococcya, &c.) that walk the ground firm, like Fowls, and have a pelvis that is strongly Ornithoscelidan. In this region, also, there are birds related to Geese that have the face of a Hen (Palamedeide) ; and a genus of the Crane family (Psophia) with a Pea-fowl’s head and the bony brows of a Tinamou. ‘These and various others characterize the rich and unique Avifauna of this region. Nor are these all the rare and isolated types to be found there; we have, also, Hurypyga, Dicholophus, Attagis, Thinocorus, Chionis, Phaéthon, and Tachypetes. Of course the Eastern Region south of “ Wallace’s Line” yields many important and rare forms, especially among the Ratite; but for archaic Carinate it is far inferior to the Western Tropics. The type now under consideration, being the only one of its family, and considered by Prof. Huxley to represent, not a Family merely, but a Suborder or a bundle of Families (the Heteromorphe), must of necessity be archaic, for all its near relations have been weeded out in the past. This is as self-evident on one hand, as, on the other, it isa sure induction that the wise Raven is a modern type; for he has not only acquired all the highest accomplishments of which a bird is capable, but, as the head of a long list of Families, he has an ornithological following of more than six thousand species, or half the number of existing birds. Anticipating somewhat the descriptions now to follow, I may remark that, besides its isolation asa type, Opisthocomus is aberrant as a Carinate bird in the Struthious character of its palate ; its temporary basipterygoids are Tinamine ; its scapula is Batrachian ; its three clavicles are more Lacertian than those of any other bird; whilst its sternal keel is permanently rudimentary. Its wing also has the largest claws in it of any known kind, with a rudiment of a third claw and two rudiments of a fourth digit; and to crown all, for a time, it has, before hatching, eight distinct carpals; and the inter- medium of the tarsus is one of the longest and best developed ever yet seen by me in any bird. Of course, the existence in these days of a bird like this is not merely a “foreign wonder” to the ornithologist ; its great importance lies in the light it sheds on the uprise of the feathered types during time. A comparison of the ankle-joint of the bird, in its early state, with what is extinct in the Ornithoscelidan Reptiles was a great stroke in this enquiry; but it is only in the hips and hind limbs that those Reptiles resemble immature birds. In the length of the neck, and in the shortness of MORPHOLOGY OF OPISTHOCOMUS CRISTATUS. AT the tail, birds are like Plesiosaurs; but in the structure of their skull, and I believe, also, that I may state in the development in their fore limbs of intercalary digits, they resemble the Ichthyosaurs. Like the Chelonia, Tertiary and existing birds have lost all-traces of teeth and have horny jaws ; and like the Crocodile’s embryo, and the adult Hatteria (Sphenodon), the hyoid arch and the columella auris become continuous. The superficial parts of the shoulder-girdle of a bird, its parostoses, are like those of an Ichthyosaurus, an ordinary Lacertian, and of the Monotrematous Mammalia; but, as a rule, these are fused together. Moreover, these parts do not remain in their primitive distinctness; as a rule they graft themselves upon proximal remnants of the antero-inferior fork of the shoulder-plate (precoracoid). I have lately shown (Proc. Roy. Soc. 1888, pp. 397— 402) that the skull of a bird is rich with the remains of truly Amphibian structures ; indeed, it is far more Amphibian in its very foundations than any existing Reptile; the parasphenoid of a Frog and of a Bird closely correspond. Then there are the remnants of the ethmo-palatines and certain superficial structures that, as a rule, have been got rid of even in Reptiles. The one or even two rows of supra-orbital bones are remarkable ; but still more so is the fact that the long Jugo-maxillary chain of ganoid bones seen in Lepidosteus is represented in some birds (Emu, Owl, Heron, Cormorant) by a chain of four bones behind the premaxillary, namely, the maxillary, postmaxillary, jugal, and quadrato-jugal. In the palate, also, besides the endoskeletal postpalatines of the Passerine birds and the medio-palatine of the Woodpeckers (pre- formed in cartilage), we have in the latter birds especially, and also in others, a literal crop of vomers, such as we see also in the Marsupials among the Mammalia. Even these parosteal remnants are too valuable to be lost sight of or left as unrelated; they at once remind the Morphologist of what is seen in the generalized pavement of bones under the rostrum of a Sturgeon. It is quite certain that not the least patch of bone-cells is ever differentiated and isolated accidentally ; as a matter of observation in birds, the smallest of such patches is very uniform in its appearance in various genera and families. One more fact in evidence of what I am anxious to express—namely, that birds did not appear during time, as a sort of feathered sport in a truly reptilian type, but from some low, genera- lized Amphibian or Dipnoan, is to be seen in a character now to be described. The earliest embryo I have examined of this type has a dilated suprascapula, separated from the scapula by an arched line of smaller cells, and overlapping the scapula proper at its edges. This upper element is, for a short time, quite as distinct as in the Frogs and Toads ; lower down, in the Rays, among the Elasmobranchs, the supra- scapula is perfectly segmented off from the scapula (see ‘ Shoulder-girdle and Sternum,’ 1868, pls. i. and v.). I have one more preliminary remark to make which bears directly upon the relation of Birds and Reptiles, and that is in the clear evidence we have of secular shortening of certain parts. In some birds, for instance the Humming- 48 PROF. W. K. PARKER ON THE birds and the long-billed Shore-birds (Limicol), the bill rapidly elongates and takes on special curves, up or down, after hatching; these are comparatively recent specializations. But in some other kinds, e.g. the Guillemot (Uria trotle), the bill tends to become as long as it is in the toothed birds of the Cretaceous Epoch. By the middle of incubation, the parosteal tracts first dominate, and then largely take the place of the endoskeletal elements, clasping them and stopping their growth. For a time, the cartilaginous rods struggle to grow to the ancestral length, but in this effort they become bent and defcrmed; this is all put right by the time of hatching; they cease to grow, overmastered by the enveloping splint-bones. But this twisting, and then arrest, of the cartilaginous rods appears also where there are no splint-bones, but merely the nerves, muscles, and ligaments to which these parts are related. This curious quasi-deformity is seen, not only in Uria trotle, but I shall soon show and describe it here, in Opisthocomus ; it appears in the pubic rods and in the columella auris. Of all existing birds, the African Ostrich comes nearest the Iguanodon and its kindred in the size of the rotated pubes ?. There has evidently been, first, a secular rotation and elongation of the pubis and ischium, and then a re-shortening of these parts in the higher kinds of birds. A similar phenomenon is seen in the length of the sacrum, and correlatively of the extent of the ilium, behind and before. The African Ostrich and the Swan have each twice, or nearly twice, as many sacral vertebre as the lesser birds of the higher kinds, both Passerine and Cuculine; and these lesser forms constitute about half the known existing birds. ven in the Rook (Corvus frugilegus), one of the chief of the Coraco- morphe, and in that Order a large bird, there are only eleven sacrals in the adult; whilst there are twenty-one, and sometimes twenty-two, in the common Swan and in the African Ostrich. The young Rook, after it is fledged, has a longer sacrum than the adult; there is, for a time, a twelfth vertebra in that part of the spine; the ancestral Crows had, probably, a longer sacrum than the existing forms. At present, with a large number of unclassifiable facts in hand, it is safer for us to confess our ignorance as to how Birds and Mammals arose, than to invent crude hypotheses that will only be mocked at by those who enter into our labours in the time to come. Of one thing I feel certain, even now, and that is that no feathered or hairy form ever arose from a true gill-less Amniotic Reptile. A very large proportion of the Reptiles that have arisen during the geological ages have died out; these all came short, as the existing reptiles now come short, of the high excellences of the hot-blooded types, feathered or hairy. Il. The Early Stages of Opisthocomus cristatus. There were three different stages in the four specimens sent to me; these, being measured, gave the following lengths from the end of the beak to the end of the tail:— * See Dollo, on Jguanodon bernissartensis, Blgr. Bull. Mus. Roy. Hist. Nat. Belg. t. ii. pl. v. MORPHOLOGY OF OPISTHOCOMUS CRISTATUS, 49 Stage A. 23 inches long; about half ripe. Stage B. 33 inches long; about two-thirds ripe. Stage C. 44 inches long; about three-fourths ripe. The largest embryo was evidently not quite ripe for hatching, and the smallest was at any rate half ripe ; I come to this conclusion by comparison of these embryos with those of the Common Fowl. I am in a position now to compare the developing skeleton of this rare type with that of its familiar relative, for the descriptions and figures of the skull, shoulder-girdle, and wings of the latter are already published (see Phil. Trans. 1869, pls. 81-87, Proc. Roy. Soc. 1868, and Phil. Trans. 1888, B, pl. 62); and the rest of the skeleton of the chick has been worked out by me and will soon be published. II. The Skull of Opisthocomus cristatus in the Embryos and Adult. The chondrocranium in the first stage is at its fullest development, and is beginning to undergo ossification in certain parts (Pls. VII., VIII.) ; it is now in the best state for comparison with the cartilaginous, or osseo-cartilaginous, skull of the Ichthyopsida, and with the early condition of the skull in Reptiles and Mammals. The solid fore part of the premaxillaries (px.), where the right and left bony tracts are already fused together, is as long as the vestibular region of the nasal labyrinth (Pl. VII.). In this short- headed bird the brain-cavity extends only along the hinder two fifths of the whole chondrocranium ; but its axial is only part of its real length, as it is tilted upwards very much, whilst the auditory capsules are tilted downwards and backwards so as to be almost horizontal (see 3rd stage, Pl. VIII. fig. 2). The whole structure, when deprived of the investing bones, is a short and rather shallow basin behind, with a long high wall in front. The foremost part of the face in front of the wall, and one-fourth of its length, is the free, rounded, somewhat flat, prenasal rostrum of the inter- trabecula 1. The nasal labyrinth is like that of the Common Fowl, but the inferior turbinals (Pl. VIII. fig. 4, 7.t0.) are simpler; they make scarcely more than one turn of a coil. In the normal ornithic skull we have repeated the high type of cranium seen in so many osseous fishes; whilst in Mammals the low type of cranium, seen in the Skate and the Frog, is once more adopted. This is the more important to notice because of the fact that of all the Ichthyopsida the high-skulled Teleostei are the most instructive types with which we can compare the Carinate, with their marvellously elastic and mobile jaws and palate. In these high skulls the posterior sphenoid, only, is fully 1 In the Apteryx on the one hand, and in the Ibis on the other, the notochordal region of the skullis extremely short as compared with the prochordal; in Opisthocomus the latter, in this stage, is more than half as long as the notochordal, even allowing for the upward tilting of the notochord between the moieties of the post- pituitary or clinoid walls. 00 PROF. W. K. PARKER ON THE developed in front of the large, hollow occipital arch ; the alisphenoids (Pls. VIL., VIII. fig. 2, ai.s.) are large and simply postorbital in position; whilst the basi- sphenoid, dominated by the auditory organs, and underfloored by the huge para- sphenoid, is one of the largest and most complex structures to be seen in the whole skull. The anterior sphenoid (p.s.) is the hinder half of the interorbital partition; it is partly segmented from the meso-ethmoid, even in the earliest of my stages, by an oval fenestra (Pl. VII., ¢.0.f.). The upper part, which overhangs the large optic passage (II.), as a rule, has scarcely any development of cartilaginous lips representing the orbito-sphenoids (0.s.). The only bird in which these are at all well developed, even in the early embryo, is the African Ostrich (Phil. Trans. 1866, pl. vii. figs. 1-8, 0.s.). In Opisthocomus they are well developed for a bird (Pl. VIL. 0.s., and Pl. VIIL. fig. 2, 0.8.), and come nearest the Ostriches of any I have yet seen (see in the chick of the Common Fowl, Phil. Trans. 1869, pl. Ixxxiii. figs. 2 & 4). Inthe 3rd stage the peculiarity of the ethmoidal region of a bird is well shown; the pars perpendicularis (p.e.) has already a large reniform osseous centre (PJ. VIII. fig. 2, p.e.) which will ultimately reach twice as far back to ossify the cartilaginous crista galli (er.g.), and also, below the interorbital fenestra, will grow some distance backwards to meet the feeble presphenoid (p.s.) and the enormous basisphenoid (6.s.). This chondrocranium, so different from that of a Mammal, on the one hand, and from a Batrachian, on the other, already, in the 3rd stage, shows the beginning of that character which separates the skull of the Carinatz, not only from that of other Vertebrata, but also from that of the Ratite themselves. This is the secondary segmentation of the vertical trabecular wall, so that the septum nasi in front is quite, or nearly, separated trom the perpendicular ethmoid behind. In this modification, Opisthocomus agrees with the Carinate generally ; and in the 3rd stage (Pl. VIII. fig. 2) the separation has taken place to an extent equal to what I have found it in an adult Tinamou (see Phil. Trans. 1866, pl. xv. fig. 8, ¢.fic.). In the earlier stage the whole prochordal tract is continuous and only loses its vertical crest where that part is not wanted, namely, in front of the nasal labyrinth; thus the intertrabecula runs on as a free bar in front of its crested part. But in the Srd stage (Pl. VIII. fig. 2, 7.tr.), under the notch just mentioned, the fore part of the inter- trabecula is already separated from that which thickens the dividing wall at its base ; it is even now undergoing degeneration, and will disappear entirely after a time. This is only one of the many prenatal transformations to be seen in the embryo bird, all 1 T have spoken before of the remarkable isomorphism existing between the culminating Fishes (Teleostei) and the culminating forms of the Sauropsida, seen in the extreme mobility of the jaws and palate. This mechanism is obtained in the former by the hyostylic condition of the pier of the mandibular arch, the palato- quadrate being swung on the hyo-mandibular and symplectic. But there is no segmentation of the cranial axis in front; that part is extremely short; and the large dominating premaxillaries ride over it, and in most cases throw the mavxillaries back, as the edentulous “ossa mystacea.” I may state that in such a bird as the Cock of the Woods (Zetrao wrogallus) those bones are extremely like their counterparts in the Teleostei. MORPHOLOGY OF OPISTHOCOMUS CRISTATUS. 51 showing how high even the lower kinds of Carinate are, as compared with the cold- blooded Sauropsida !. In these high skulls there is a partial secondary segmentation of the ethmoid from the anterior sphenoid by a pyriform interorbital fenestra (7.0); above this the ethmoid ends as a blunt cartilaginous crista galli, under which the olfactory crura (1.) run forwards to the simply infolded upper and middle turbinal regions. Below this groove we see the narrow orbito-sphenoidal alz (0.s.). In all these stages the anterior sphenoid is wholly unossified : in Stage 1 the only part of the posterior sphenoid that has any bony matter is the rim of the pituitary hole; the trabecule do not form a floor to this part; and that bony substance is borrowed from the parasphenoid, a mere parostosis. ‘The large leafy postorbital alisphenoids are still thin upgrowths of cartilage (Pl. VII., a/.s.); but in Stage 3 these are largely ossified (Pl. VIII. fig. 2, al.s.), and although turning in behind the eyeballs, do also form the foremost third of the lateral wall of the skull, the rest being made by the superficial low-lying parietals (Pl. VIII. fig. 2, p.). Under these two bones, and wedged in between them and the large occipital arch, we see the large, long auditory capsules, which are so much tilted back as to have their top nearly as low as their base. These cartila- ginous capsules were fused very early with the parachordals, and with their lateral upgrowths, alisphenoidal and exoccipital tracts. A considerable osseous centre is already seen in Stage 3 (Pl. VIII. jig. 2) between the meatus internus (VII., vil.) and the elegant anterior semicircular canal (a.s.c.); this is the prootic (pr.o.). Below, also, over the edge of the exoccipital (¢.0.), a lanceolate bone is seen hardening the postero-inferior edge of the capsule; this is the opisthotic (op.); the epiotic is rarely seen in birds, and then only as a small tract of bone. Even in Stage 1 the double supraoccipital (s.0.) has become a single tract of bone; the exoccipitals are growing well at the sides of the arch, leaving, however, the large tympanic wings (Pl. VIL. ¢.¢0.) in a soft state; the basioccipital is still largely hidden in the cartilage (Pl. VIII. fig. 1, 6.0.) ; it is forming, however, round the sheath of the notochord (ne.) ; the occipital condyle (oc.c.) is slightly bilobate. In Stage 3 (Pl. VIII. fig. 2, nc.) the notochord has retreated into the basioccipital region, although at first it reached, at least, the top of the post-pituitary wall. Under that wall, in this advanced stage, much absorption of the basal cartilage has taken place, to form the middle part of the cavities in front of the cavum tympani—the pre-tympanic recesses of the basi- sphenoid. ‘These parts will be described with the parasphenoids; but before leaving the chondrocranium I must refer to the foramina of the cranial nerves. The first nerve (Pl. VIII. fig. 2, 1.) has already been mentioned ; it is a single crus, and does not need a lamina cribrosa. The optic nerves (11.) have a large common passage It seems to me that the primary Dipnoan Bird-stock had a face as long as in the Skate; not short, as in the existing Dipnoi and Amphibia. VOL. XIII.—PART 11. No. 2.—April, 1891. I 52 PROF. W. K. PARKER ON THE in a semicircular notch on the back of the interorbital wall, a little in front of and above the deep pituitary space (py.). The lesser nerves, 3rd, 4th, and 6th, pass out to their destinations through the membranous interspace that is now seen between the foramen opticum and the f. ovale; the latter is very large for the transmission of the 5th nerve (Pl. VIII. fig. 2,v.). It lies over the meatus internus for the 7th and 8th nerves (Vil, vul.). The passages for the vagus, glossopharyngeal, and hypoglossal nerves (Pl. VIII. fig. 1, x., x1.) are figured in the least and largest of these embryos. The glossopharyngeal and vagus pass out under the opisthotic bone, and the hypo- glossal pierces the exoccipital. In the Sauropsida there is a small passage in front of it which makes it seem to be the “posterior condyloid foramen;” in Mammals a notable vascular passage is found behind that for the 12th nerve. That nerve in the bird (see Pl. VIII. fig. 2, x1.) is shown as escaping opposite the occipital condyle, with its notochordal dimple (nc.), and having directly in front of it a small vascular passage. The large internal carotids find their way into the skull over the parasphenoid and pass through the pituitary hole; they ultimately have a bony tube formed accurately round them. The rest of the cranium proper is formed of membrane and membrane-bones, or parostoses. But besides the inner skull, or chondrocranium, there are the cartilaginous visceral arches that are formed in segments in that tract of the head of the embryo which corresponds with the splanchnopleura in the postcephalic region. These cartilages begin to solidify before the head-cavities are closed ; they are indeed the first three branchial -arches; for, as is well known, in the Elasmobranchs the quadrato-mandi- bular and hyoid arches both carry gills !. Whatever the prochordal tracts of the chondrocranium may turn out to be, whether visceral or cranial, the post-oral arches are determinable’. In this type, as in most of the Sauropsida, the palato-pterygoid arcade in front of the quadrate pier is merely developed as membrane-bone, although secondary tracts of ’ Tf this fact had been attended to, the strange misconceptions which have arisen as to the nature of these parts would have been avoided. In the study of the Morphology of the Skull, before all things, it is necessary that the fundamental embryological development of this part should be mastered. Anything more hopeless than the confusion produced by want of this knowledge in some Memoirs on this subject cannot be conceived. The most remarkable instance of this is to be seen in Dr. Gadow’s paper ‘‘On the Modifications of the First and Second Visceral Arches ” (Phil. Trans. 1888, pls. 71-74, pp. 451-485). If our modern Morphology can do no more for us than this, we had better return to “‘ Transcendentalism ” and blindly follow Oxern. * Prof. Huxley (see his paper on Petromyzon, Journ. Anat. & Phys. vol. x. pp. 412-429) classifies the trabecule with the visceral arches; my own view at present is that they do belong to the same original eranio-facial basket-work, such as is seen in the Myxinoids (Phil. Trans. 1883, pls. viiiixxvi.); but that the whole of that continuous skeletal tract is, I feel certain, a prochordal skeleton formed in time before any vertebral rudiments appeared, and even before there were any skeletal elements in the occiput. This basket- work was developed for the support of the enlarging brain and increasingly complex oral apparatus long before any paired vertebral rudiments grew for the support of the notochord. o MORPHOLOGY OF OPISTHOCOMUS CRISTATUS. 55 cartilage crop up wherever they are needed in the mobile upper face. ‘The quadrate or upper segment of the mandibular arch (an epibranchial element) is, in this bird, all we have above the gape. In the early stage (Pls. VII., VIII. fig. 1, g.) this is a large segment of cartilage, the body of which has a bony shaft. The true apex or free pedicle (orbital process) is flat and rounded; the secondary apex or otic process is rounded, and fits in between the squamosal and the anterior margin of the auditory capsule, close in front of the anterior ampulla. As in birds generally, but not as, as a rule, in the Ratite, nor in the Tinamide, the lower articular facet is bilobate; the outer lobe is somewhat in front of the inner; inside the latter there is a knob for the pterygoid, and outside the former there is a cup for end of the quadrato-jugal. The endoskeletal part of the lower segment, or primary mandible, is in a very instructive condition in these chicks. In the youngest embryo (Pl. VII., mk.) Meckel’s cartilage is exposed on the inner side up to its fore end; but in the largest (Pl. VIII. fig. 2) it is enclosed by the dentary (d.) and has what the other has not yet, namely, an ectosteal plate, the outer ossification of the articulare (ar.); this is a thin, deep, lanceo- late tract of ossified perichondrium ; the endosteal part of the articulare has not yet appeared. As bearing upon the order in time of the appearance of these bony deposits, I may remark that in the half-grown Green Turtle (Chelone viridis) the endosteal centre is not present; in old Turtles it is large. The Anura have only a dentary and a large ectosteal articulare as a rule; but in the skull of one of the most teebly ossitied types, Bombinator igneus, I find, contrary to rule, the endosteal part of the articulare. The thick malleal part of the primary mandible in Opisthocomus is generalized ; it is more like that of a Plover than that of a Fowl, for the posterior angular process (p.ag.) is a very small hook; the internal angular process (¢.aq.) is large, thick, and normal. The development of the posterior angular process is greatest in that gigantic Fowl, the Cock of the Woods (Yetrao urogallus), but it is large in all the true Fowls; in the Anatide, which in some things are marvellously like the Galli- nacee, and also in the Flamingo and anserine Ibis, it is large. ‘Thus in this part of its structure Opisthocomus is seen to have fallen short of the Fowl type; it is a pre- gallinaceous bird, like the 'Tinamou '. The hyoid arch (Pls. VII., VIII. fig. 3) is quite normal and similar to that of the Common Chick; the distal part of the second arch is merely the lower half of a ceratobranchial rod, with no terminal or hypobranchial segment. The median element (0.hy.) is formed in the usual way by the fusion and partial separation from the ends of the ceratohyals (c.hy.). The rest of the basal tract behind is a single rod 1 The first visceral arch in the Amphibia and Sauropsida generally is chondrified at first as two tracts, an epibranchial and ceratobranchial. In the Salmon (Phil. Trans. 1873, pls. 1-3) all the visceral arches are developed as continuous bands of cartilage, and are segmented afterwards. The same thing takes place in the mandibular arch in Marsupials (e. g. Macropus major); thus the incus and malleus are continuous at first and become separate after birth. 12 o4 PROF. W. K. PARKER ON THE (b.h.br.), and really belongs to the third postoral arch, and to arches that have been suppressed behind that. That third arch is developed as the “cornu major”; it is merely divided into a ceratobranchial and epibranchial (¢.br., ¢.br.), the lower pieces ossifying. The upper part of the second arch repeats the old Amphibian specializa- tion; it is now the skeleton of the middle ear—the stapes or columella. Morpho- logically this part (Pl. VIII. figs. 5, 6) is a pharyngobranchial, an epibranchial, and the beginning of the ceratobranchial region ; this is followed by a membranous tract of considerable and, during growth, of relatively increasing extent. Below, the cerato- hyal=ceratobranchial just described, breaks out again. In these arrested and specialized pharyngohyal and epihyal cartilages we have the archaic character seen in Hatteria, and in the Crocodilia for a time, namely, the fusion of these two cartilages, the intermediate and secondary element, the “ interhyal,’ so well known in Ganoids and Teleosteans, binding together the two tracts. The interhyal (=infrastapedial) is present in the ordinary Lacertilia, but it is free below; it does not catch the top of their long epihyal; it does not exist in the Amphibia. All birds are therefore Hatterian in this respect ; but the embryos of Opisthocomus show this better than any birds I have yet worked out. This specialized hyomandibular is at first of the full relative size ; its growth, however, scon becomes arrested : it has the usual dilated opercular plate; a short thick shaft, the mediostapedial (m.st.); a tongue-shaped extrastapedial (e.st.); and a forked suprastapedial (s.st.), finished above by a ligamentous tract. The infrastapedial (¢.st.), (=interhyal of Fishes and Mam- mals) is developed directly from the columella and ends in a bulbous form ; it is half the length of the extrastapedial, and one-third of its width. Articulated to this 1s a tract of cartilage as long as the whole columella proper ; this is sharp above, and then, after articulating with the infrastapedial, which it exceeds in size, it turns suddenly backwards, and then makes a second sudden turn forwards, and ends in a large tongue- shaped lobe, which lies on the edge of the basitemporal bone. This cartilage is the epihyal, with a continuous but enlarged rudiment of the top of the ceratohyal !. 1 Let this structure be compared with what is seen in Hatteria, and also for a time in the Crocodile (see T, Z. 8. vol. xi. pls. 68 & 69). The ectocranium of Opisthocomus conforms very closely to that of Carinate birds generally, but it comes nearest to that of the Gallinaceous tribes. It is a “ holorhinal” skull with a strongly curved rostrum and highly ossified endocranium. The cranial and rostral parts are of nearly equal length. The hinge of the rostrum on the cranium is, however, much more perfect than in the Common Fowl; and this agrees with the normal Cracide, which are very Cuculine in this respect. The splints of the rostrum or upper face are well formed already (Pls. VII. & VIII.), but in the first stage the premaxillaries (px.) do not cover the prenasal rod (pn.) in front. The nasals (m.) have a round notch behind the alinasal wall; this skull is therefore holorhinal. The frontals and parietals (f., p.) are quite normal; the large squamosal (sq.) lacks the special jugal spur so well seen in Gallinaceous birds generally. In this respect this bird is generalized ; so it is also as to the lachrymal (J.), which is very small and attached to the back of the nasal. In the palate (Pl. VIII. fig. 1) the parostoses are slender and feeble, much like those of the Gallinaceve generally. This is especially seen in the feeble state and hidden position of the maxillaries (ma), which, as in MORPHOLOGY OF OPISTHOCOMUS CRISTATUS. 5d The pterygoids ( pq.) are also simple, with scarcely any epipterygoid process, and with the articular plate for the basipterygoid spur far back as in the Tinamou and Ostrich. That this bird is not a special Gallinaceous form is also seen in the fact that the front part of the pterygoid does not remain on that bone and become specialized as a particular peg as in all true Fowls, but becomes segmented off, as in Tinamous and most Carinate, to form a mesopterygoid, which, however, as in the Carinatz generally, soon fuses with the palatine. These bones meet right and left, and hide the rostrum of the sphenoid as in most birds. As we pass from the most special kinds of modern Fowl to the older types the vomer is seen to become larger, as in the Talegalla ; but it is always azygous. The vomer (v.) in this bird is large ; in the lst stage it reaches halfway from the ascending plates of the palatines to the end of the intertrabecula (Pl. VIII. fig. 1); the hinder pointed end just wedges in between these two plates; its fore end is thick and bifid. The enlarged split fore end in all three stages is such as to suggest that this was formed at first, for a day or so, of two club-shaped centres of bone, and not of a single thread, as in the Gallinaceous types generally. This is another generalized character, for in most birds that have a large or a wide vomer it is double at first; but it is single in those in which it is a mere vertical plate or a narrow median needle ; when double, the fusion takes place very early asa rule. Behind the palate, but on a higher plane, we see the triple bony tract that forms the parosteal support of the endocranium. This tract, the parasphenoid, was, as the early stage of the Fowl shows (Phil. Trans. 1869, pl. 80. fig. 2, 0.¢.), composed of a pair of centres under the skull-bowl—these are the basitemporals; and of a median bar, the rostral part, which supports the thick trabecular base of the interorbital septum. ‘These parts are so generalized that they come in character exactly between those of the Carinate and of the Ratite. The rostrum is nearly Struthious in respect of the backward position of the basipterygoids, and the temporary cartilaginous core of each process was evidently a direct outgrowth from the basis cranii, and not a mere articular tablet of cartilage developed afterwards, as in the Common Chick (Phil. Trans. 1869, pl. 83. figs. 1, 13, 14). The basitemporals (0.¢) are larger than in the Struthionide, and smaller by far than in Fowls and Geese; they are, indeed, very similar to what we find in birds generally; they are generalized, and not specially Gallinaceous. osseous fishes, are mere ossa mystacea. Indeed, the palatine part or maxillo-palatine process (ma.p.) is less developed than even in typical Fowls and Hemipods, scarcely more than in the Picide, quite unlike what is seen in the Musophagide, or even in the large Cracide, for these latter have secondary Desmognathism. This bird is as Schizognathous as a Lizard; it is “‘ Saurognathous.” ‘The cheek-splints, jugal and quadrato-jugal (j-5 qj-), are rather feeble, but normal; the submedial bars, the palatines (pa.), and the pterygoids (jq.) are of the simplest kind; the former have no postero-external angle, scarcely any groove in the hind part, but have an extensive ascending plate. 56 PROF. W. K. PARKER ON THE ‘The superficial or somatopleural elements of the mandible are very stout, but quite normal; the largest is the dentary (Pl. VII. & Pl. VII. fig. 2, d.); it is closing in upon Meckel’s cartilage in the 3rd stage, and that rod is beginning to shrink; the splenial (Pl. VIII. fig. 2, sp., deflected in the figure) is long and thin; the coronoid, as in the Fowl tribe and some others, is absent ; and the supra-angulare (s.ag.) and the angulare (ag.) are normal, and are at present quite distinct from, and superficial to, the articulare (ar.). The skull of the adult is very solid and strong *, and does not suggest a Musophagine relationship so much as the younger and feebler specimens; both in the skull and general skeleton it will be necessary for me to give some account of the parts in the adult, notwithstanding the excellent descriptions already given by Prof. Huxley, for I wish to make my own monograph complete; moreover my observations have been made from a somewhat different standpoint. The skull of Opisthocomus is remarkably short, stout, and broad; the bill, when the mouth is closed, is almost conical; it is much unlike that of the Peafowl, which is more arched and is very lightly built. The likeness to that of the Musophagide (e. g. Corythaix buffoni) is much less in the old male than in the feebler specimens; but the skull of those Ethiopian Cuculines resembles that of the Cracide, and they seem to have something Gallinaceous in their nature; they might be called Cracine Cuckoos. The true Cuckoos of the Neotropical Region (Saurothera, Geococcyx, and Piaya) are the proper isomorphs, not relatives of the Cracide. In Opisthocomus the rostrum is, measured in a straight line, two-thirds the length of the cranium proper; the lower edge is 24 millim. in extent, and the culmen, measured along its curve, 30 millim. This part is hinged on to the cranium at a considerable angle, so that if a line be drawn from the base of the quadrate to the point of the rostrum, the fore end of the jugal bar would be 8 millim. above that line. This general deflection of the rostrum and the arched form of the mandibles, whose lower edge rises 5 millim. above a basal line, gives a stunted and strong appearance to the face of this bird; it is short-faced even for a Fowl. The likeness of this skull to that of a Touraco (Corythaia) will be illustrated by the following measurements :— Width of Least frontal Width across Hinge. Width. Postorbitals. millim. millim. millim. Omsthocomus. .. .. 19 19 26 Corythaiz . . econ” 12°5 23 In the large Crax globicera the skull is twice as long as in the two birds just com- pared together; its hinge is 20 millim. across, but it is all ankylosed except the * In the Hunterian Museum there are two skeletons of this bird ; these will be referred to here as A & B. The mounted specimen (A) is evidently that of an old male bird; the other is an injured specimen, and is not mounted. Prof. Huxley’s figures (P.Z.8. 1868, pp. 310, 311, figs. 13-16) show feebler birds, and were probabiy younger specimens or females. MORPHOLOGY OF OPISTHOCOMUS CRISTATUS. 57 narrow nasal processes of the premaxillaries ; in the other two birds the hinge is perfect. In Crax globicera the narrowest frontal width is 33 millim., so that relatively, although broad, it is a much narrower skull than that of Corythaix or Opisthocomus. Yet, with the exception of Opisthocomus, the skull of this bird is the most Musophagine of all the Gallinacee. These three types of skull are all holorhinal, but the ossification of the upper face in the strong skull of Crar is much less than in the light skull of Corythaix, or in that of Opisthocomus, which is intermediate in this respect '. In Crax globicera the external nostrils in the macerated skull are large, obliquely oval spaces, 22 millim. by 12 millim. in size; for the alinasal cartilages that so largely fill this space are lost in such preparations. In Corythaix this space is largely closed by the ossification of those cartilages; this osseous change takes place in a large number of the Coccygomorphe, in very few Coracomorphe (for instance Gymnorhina), and in no normal member of the Alectoromorphe. In Opisthocomus this ossification is as complete as in Corythaix; this is very remarkable, and helps to stamp this bird as aberrant. The actual nasal opening in this bird is obliquely reniform, with the “hilus” below. In Corythaix it is horizontal, and the hilus of the kidney-shaped hole is above, the opening being modified by the protrusion of an ogssified valvular process from the inside. In Opisthocomus the hilus is caused by a process of the alinasal lamine, where it rests on the descending crus of the nasal. In this bird the septum nasi is ossified, but its vertical extent is small, and it is fenestrate; it is like that of Corythaix, but feebler. In Craw globicera, with an unusually solid skull, even for a Curassow, the lower part only of the septum nasi is ossified, and, as in Accipi- trine birds and Owls, is ankylosed to the swollen maxillo-palatine; so that, contrary to rule, this Fowl is desmognathous in a secondary manner (see Huxley, P. Z. S. 1867, p. 483, fig. 15). The use of such a taxonomic character as Desmognathism or Schizognathism is very extensive in some groups and very limited in others; and there is no sharp line of distinction between the two. The most Lacertian palate for openness is that of the Woodpecker; the most modified by intense ossification is that of the Toucan; yet these two types, each specialized to the uttermost, have a postcephalic skeleton, not indeed identical, but extremely similar. Corythaix also, and its relatives, have an intensely ossified fore palate; but this abnormal Curassow——Opisthocomus—which looks at first sight as if it might be a member of the Musophagide, is as schizognathous as the Woodpecker. The structure of the rest of the palatal part of the face of this aberrant bird will show how far it is removed, not merely from the Musophagide, but even from the Cracide. But the Cracide in the New, and the Megapodide in the Old Tropics, are the most archaic forms of the Fowl tribe ; the latter are very reptilian in 1 My meaning as to light, in contrast with coarsely strong skulls, will be seen at once by anyone who will compare the skull of a Toucan with that of the Cock of the Woods (Tetrao wrogallus) or that of a domestic Goose. 58 PROF. W. K. PARKER ON THE their habits, and in both families the foot is flat. ‘They are Peristeropodous, not high- heeled as the other true Gallinacew, which are Alectoropodous (see Huxley, P. Z. S. 1868, pp. 294-319). The palatal region of Opisthocomus as a whole would have been a very difficult study if the Tinamou had not come in for our enlightenment. It is only by tracing the relation of the latter type as well as of Opisthocomus to the Struthious forms that we shall find the real clue. When we come to the organs of flight it will appear evident that both these low Neotropical Families show good proof that they are much less modified from the ideal archaic bird than the Ratite, which have manifestly undergone a large amount of degradation on the one hand and specialization on the other. In the general palatal view (Huxley, op. cit. p. 311, fig. 16)* the skull of the adult is more Struthious than in the embryo (Pl. VIII. fig. 1), for the long ascending processes of the palatines meet at no part, and behind the sharp vomerine wedge the rostrum of the parasphenoid is exposed. The pterygoids behave in this type as they do in the Tinamou, in both of which the mesopterygoid is segmented off and unites with the palatine, as in the majority of birds; in the Ratite there is no segmentation, and no special modification of the fore part of the pterygoid. In Fowls proper, as in the Goose tribe, that part becomes a neat peg which rolls in a groove on the upper and hinder face of the palatine. The slight development of the hinder part of the pala- tines, and the extreme feebleness of the fore part, are essentially general or Struthious ; so also is the imperfect development of the maxillo-palatines, and the length and breadth of the vomer. That bone is not so Struthious as it is in the Tinamou, but is intermediate in size between the vomer of that bird and that of the Fowls proper, in which it is, as a rule, a slender azygous style. Its breadth and forked form suggest a primary division of the bone in Opisthocomus, although, as I have shown, my earliest embryos have it already in one piece. In my earliest embryo of Struthio camelus (Phil. Trans. 1866, pl. vii. fig. 4, v.) it was, although very large for a bird, in one piece. The proper pterygoid segment of the adult is remarkable for its dilatation in front ; it wants the neatness seen in the higher kinds of birds, and the dilatation, which is great and reptilian in the Ratite, is nearly equal in this bird to what is seen in the Penguins. The quadrate is not like that of a typical Fowl, or of a Tinamou, or of a struthious bird ; in these latter, as a rule, and in the Tinamou, the otic process is oblong and undivided ; in the Fowl there is a round main condyle and a small secondary head on its inside. But in the Cracide and Megapodide the head is divided into two condyles, the outer larger than the inner in Crax, but the two are subequal in TYalegalla; in Opisthocomus they are subequal as in the latter bird ”. ‘ In this figure the basitemporal is shown as abortively developed, or it was injured on one side; it is perfectly symmetrical in the Hunterian specimen (A), in which both of the Eustachian tubes are well floored. * In working out the Apteryx, my son, Prof. T. Jeffery Parker, finds that its quadrate has its otic process undivided, as in the Carinate generally. This is a remarkable fact, as the whole upper face of that bird is perhaps more immobile than in any other type in the Class. MORPHOLOGY OF OPISTHOCOMUS CRISTATUS. 59 The occipital condyles are not so bilobate as in the Cracide. The occipital plane is rounded and complete, not fenestrate as in many water-birds; in this it agrees with the Fowl tribe. A comparison of Prof. Huxley’s figures with those given by me of an old Fowl (Phil. Trans. 1869, pl. Ixxvii. figs. 4-6) will show how much this bird comes short of the typical Fowl. This is seen also in the postorbital region, where the post- orbital process of the frontal, the zygomatic process of the squamosal, and the sphenotic process of the alisphenoid are all aborted in Opisthocomus, but, together, form a bridge over the temporal muscle in the Common Fowl. The Fowl, like the Goose, has the posterior angular process of the mandible very long; in Opisthocomus it is almost suppressed ; it is best seen in the embryo (Pls. VII. & VIII. fig. 2, p.ag.). ‘The figure of the hyoid arch in the 3rd stage (PI. VIII. fig. 3) shows how near this part comes to that of a typical Fowl. IV. The Vertebral Chain of Opisthocomus cristatus. In the Ist stage the vertebre are all formed but not ossified, and the number of the caudal series can be determined accurately ; this part has generally six in the adult, and the last of these is composed of four (Pl. VIIL., ed.v.) very rudimentary segments ; therefore nine may be given as the number in this region. I have met with no species of bird in which the individual variability in the number of the vertebra is so great as in this, as though the tendency to produce races and species had gone no further than to give rise to unuseful individual modifications. I suspect that this bird bears the same relation to the early Tertiary types as the Tapir does to the Mammals of that period—the Palwotheriwm and its congeners. Where the number of vertebra is greatest, for instance in the Swans, I have found the number of presacrals vary in different species, but not in different individuals; and, as a rule, the Carinate vary more in asymmetry of the vertebre that are developed than in the number in the chain. A very large proportion of the Passerine Order have 14 cervicals, or exactly twice as many as Mammals. ‘The larger the type the greater the number of vertebree ; and the largest of the sifting birds—the Swans—have as many as the largest Ratite, notwithstanding their extremely high position among the aquatic birds. Opisthocomwus, like the Gallinacez generally, takes a middle place in this respect, halfway between the Swan and the Humming-bird. In giving a vertebral formula I shall, in this ease, break up the avian sacrum into four secondary regions; namely, the dorso-sacral, lumbo-sacral, sacral proper, and uro-sacral. The dorsals proper are those that have perfect rib-cinctures, are in front of the pre-ilia, and as a rule are distinct from the first that is overlapped by those plates. The following table will show the variability of this chain of bones in this bird. VOL. XIII.—PART 11. No. 3.—April, 1891. K 60 PROF. W. K. PARKER ON THE C.? D DS LS. 5 U.S. Cd listhisbagey | Metiaaticccls 18 4 2 3 3 6 6+3 Drivel FE) gaocodacedoo 18 4 1 3 3 6 6+3 Sitel GIG) gooocdedco00 18 4 1 3 3 6 643 Hunterian adult........ 19 3 2 3 4 6 643 Hixley/svadulit errr lstare 19 3 2 3 4 6 5+4 So that in the Ist stage the total number in the chain is 45; in the 2nd and 3rd stages 44; in the Hunterian and Huxley’s adult specimens 46. But this does not exhaust the variability of the axial skeleton with its inferior arches arrested or developed. In the 1st stage (Pl. VII.) the last two cervicals have considerable styloid ribs ; it has four complete rib-cinctures ; and the second dorso-sacral has ribs with a half-developed sternal piece. Only those ribs that are complete below have the appendage (c¢.a.), an oblongo-oval cartilage, not diverging backwards from the rib, but parallel with it. The eight more or less developed ribs are ossifying rapidly; these are the only axial parts that are not entirely cartilaginous at present. Behind the developed ribs of the second dorso-sacral there is, in this first stage, a pair of small rudiments (Pl. IX. fig. 4, s.7°.) which are losing their individuality already, and will only appear as part of the transverse processes later on. There are two pairs of similar riblets in the fore part of the uro-sacral series (Pl. IX. fig. 4, s.r.) ; behind these, again, there are only upper transverse processes (diapophyses) ; these parts are very uniform, the two pairs of uro-sacral riblets being constant in this species. In the 2nd stage the last two cervicals have elongated or styloid ribs, and in two specimens at this stage the second dorso-sacral had only small rudiments of ribs; but there were five perfect thoracic cinctures. It is seen at once that there is a vertebra wanting in the dorso-sacral region in the 3rd stage as compared with the Ist (Pl. IX. figs. 4 & 6): the 2nd agrees with the 3rd stage in this respect; in both specimens of the 2nd stage there is a small rib right and left on the first lumbo-sacral vertebra, and also in the 3rd stage (Pl. IX. fig. 6, s.7°.); this shows how arbitrary is our classifica- tion of the regions of the chain. The cervical vertebra in the Ist (Pl. VII.) are largest and strongest in front; behind the atlas (at.) four of these have more or less develop- ment of the upper and lower spines; there is some downward development also of the atlas. The cartilage, quite umossified, is very solid, and, examined in horizontal sections, it is seen that the notochord (Pl. VIII. fig. 7, ne.) is submoniliform, so that * C. Cervical; D. Dorsal; D.S. Dorso-sacral ; L.S. Lumbo-sacral; S. Sacral; U.S. Uro-sacral; Cd. Caudal. MORPHOLOGY OF OPISTHOCOMUS CRISTATUS. 61 there is a tendency to produce three times as many vertebre as are needed. There are two constrictions in each centrum in all the presacral vertebra, besides that which afterwards is formed at each intervertebral space. Originally the constriction was, as in fishes, in the middle of each rudimentary centrum (see my paper on the Vertebral Chain in Birds, Proc. Roy. Soc. March 8, 1888, pp. 465-482). This bird agrees with the Fowls and the majority of the Carinate in having no rudimentary rib on the atlas and axis (Pl. VIL., at.,aa.): the rest of the cervicals down to the last two have a rudiment, right and left: the distinctness of these riblets as cartilage is very temporary : they complete the canal for the vertebral artery so far asit extends. These riblets have but a small styloid process in this bird, and in the hinder part of the neck this is lost ; but the ribs break out suddenly in the seventeenth vertebra (Pl. VII., ¢.r.”). ‘Those hinder cervicals begin to have an upper spine, and these spines are like those of the dorsals from the fifteenth to the eighteenth. There is scarcely any development of the infero-lateral edge of the cervicals in this bird, tending to protect the carotid artery below. The centra of all this series, and of all the dorsals also, are very broad, and all these vertebre are cylindroidal. The interarticular ligament is normal, being perforated in the middle, the notochord passing through as the ‘“‘ suspensory ligament.” Ossification is advancing fast in the 3rd stage, but the centres are not all present; when complete there is a pair for the neural arch, one for the centrum, and a pair for the riblets. In the axis there are two axial centres, for the centrum of the atlas is fused with it; the so-called centrum of the atlas is an intercentrum belonging to the junction of the first vertebra to the occipital condyle. Behind this another intercentrum appears belonging to the junction of the atlas with the axis, so that the atlas has three azygous osseous centres. The dorsal vertebrae, with their large quadrate upper spines, show scarcely any outgrowth below, but are unusually broad at that part; their transverse processes are large; the elevated cup for the capitulum of the rib is normal. Seen from below (Pl. IX. fig. 4) the sacral series is spindle-shaped ; in the middle the centra are developed to a great width, for these contain the dilated, hollow sacral part of the myelon. ‘There is a synovial cavity, with an interarticular ligament, between the first of the series and the last dorsal; for the rest, the cartilaginous centra are fused together, fibrous tissue only appearing between these parts and the hinder half of the uro-sacral region. The transverse lines marking the junction of the centra are curved backwards; the notochord (nc.) is obscurely moniliform, and there is only one constriction in each centrum. In Stage | (Pl. IX. fig. 5) the spines are confluent, and die out on the last lumbo-sacral, to reappear in the middle of the uro-sacral series. The ribs, developed on the first and second, the dorso-sacrals, appear as small remnants on the first lumbo-sacral and the first and second uro-sacrals. ‘The diapo- physes are present throughout the series; they form strong buttresses to the pre-ilia, become very small in the last sacral proper, and then gradually approximate to the K2 62 PROF. W. K. PARKER ON THE condition seen in the free caudal series. The first of that series (Pl. IX. fig. 4, cd.v.’, ic.) sends an intercentrum under the fourteenth or last sacral; the rest up to the fore- part of the uropygial tract have increasingly large intercentra traced from before backwards; in the Common Fowl these parts are suppressed. Above (Pl. VII. & Pl. IX. fig. 5) the neural arches are seen to be narrow, and the spines low and blunt, in these free vertebre. The short uropygial series of four imperfect segments formed on the end of the notochord is pinched in between the third and fourth, and the last . segment expands a little. ‘The ossification of the sacral series, as seen in the 3rd stage, is by a pair of centres for each arch and one for each centrum (Pl. IX. fig. 6); there is in many young birds the appearance of a double bony centre in this part; it is really single, the osseous matter which is first formed round the notochord growing out as a right and left lobe into the surrounding cartilage. The ossification of the caudal series is like that of the uro-sacrals in front, but becomes simpler behind; the intercentra are separately ossified. The vertebral chain of the adult may be profitably compared with that of some other types; in the following formule the avian sacrum is taken as one region :— CoRYTHAIX BUFFONT. C. 14, the two last with free ribs; D. 5, all with arches perfect; S. 13, first with half-sized free ribs, altogether, four pairs of pre-iliac buttresses, and the rudiments of a fifth, the ninth or first uro-sacral has riblets; Cd. 7+3: Total 42. OPISTHOCOMUS CRISTATUS. C. 19, last two with free ribs, sixteenth and seventeenth with no capitular develop- ment of fused riblets; D. 3; S. 15, of which five have pre-iliac buttresses, the first two of these with free ribs, the second of which have sternal pieces incomplete below, the tenth and eleventh or first and second uro-sacrals have riblets; Cd. 5+4: Total 46. CHAUNA CHAVARIA. C. 19, last three with free ribs; D, 5, ribs devoid of appendages; S. 17, with eight pairs of pre-iliac buttresses, the first three of these with developed ribs and sternal pieces, the twelfth and thirteenth and probably the fourteenth had distinct riblets ; Cd. 645: Total 52. CRAX GLOBICERA. C. 16, two last with free ribs; D. 4; S. 16, the first six with pre-iliac buttresses, of these the first carries perfect ribs, then two follow with no lateral processes, the next two have strong diapophyses and feeble riblets ; three sacrals follow with these parts MORPHOLOGY OF OPISTHOCOMUS CRISTATUS. 63 aborted, and of the eight uro-sacrals the first two have riblets and diapophyses; Cd. 6+3: Total 45. This remark may be made, namely that the same bird differs very much in youth and age; small riblets are apt to lose their distinctness or to become starved ; while the diapophyses themselves often shrink, so that a strong buttress may become a small prickle, which often quite disappears on one side. The length of the pre-iliac region of the sacrum in Chauna is a Cygnine character; indeed it has one more vertebra in the dorso-lumbo-sacral series than the Swan (Cygnus olor). Opisthocomus agrees with that Neotropical generalized Chenomorph—Chauna—in the length of its neck, a length which attains its highest condition in the Swan, which has 25 cervical vertebra ; in the other regions Opisthocomus comes near to the Gallinacez generally. The reniform occipital condyle in this bird fits into a notched atlantal cup as in the Fowls. The neural spines begin on the second vertebra, die out on the eighth, reappear on the thirteenth and fourteenth, and become complete on the seventeenth. The axis and the two next have a small, thick inferior spine, which is nearly obsolete on the fifth. ‘There is a small inferior spine on the fifteenth and sixteenth, and there is a free median spine with a pair of lateral ridges on the last three cervicals. The dorsals are peculiar ; they are cylindroidal in their articulation, like the cervicals, and are flat-bottomed. There are no carotid bridges below in the cervical region. ‘The first two or rib-bearing sacrals (dorso-sacrals) are somewhat bicarinate ; the rest have merely the usual convex form. Returning to the cervical region there is a structure which is very remarkable, and yet not rare in the Carinate. The seventh to the twelfth inclusive have an oblique bony lamina outside the canal for the vertebral artery, a kind of flying buttress. In Crax globicera this is seen on the sixth to the ninth inclusive ; this structure has its greatest development in certain of the Coccygo- morphe. ‘The cervical riblets are small, but have a large base between the diapophyses and the parapophyses ; they only form small additions to the former processes in the sixteenth and seventeenth ; altogether the neck is very gallinaceous except as to its length. The sacral region is intensely ossified; the spine never quite dies out even in the true sacrals. Gradually the intervertebral spaces appear behind; but the main part of the pelvis above is largely plastered over with periosteal bone. ‘The caudal vertebra are not pneumatic, the rest of the spine is; the transverse and upper processes of the caudals are thick and of moderate size; the centra have the usual development. The intercentra are developed all along: that of the first is fused with the last sacral centrum ; the second is a small grain of bone; the rest form thick inferior spines to the vertebre ; this is seen also on the uropygial bone, which is formed of four segments in the embryo (Pl. IX. fig. 5); it is thick below as in Craw; it is somewhat hooked downwards at the tip. The ribs in the old bird are strong bars ; those on the eighteenth cervical are 24 millim. long, and have no uncinate processes; those on the 64 PROF. W. K. PARKER ON THE nineteenth are 55 millim. long, and those on the first dorsal 57 millims. These two pairs of ribs have evident uncinate processes, whilst those on the second and third dorsals are rudimentary, only widening the ribs somewhat. In the first stage the free cervicals have no appendages (Pl. VII.), but these are seen on the four dorsals and the first dorso-sacral. The ribs gradually narrow backwards; each rib also narrows downwards and becomes the width of the sternal piece; these lower segments are short and strong. Even the costal appendages show that this is a generalized bird, both in their form and in their variability. V. The Sternum and Shoulder-girdle of Opisthocomus. From a very early period of my study of the Anatomy of Birds, I have been in the habit of comparing these intensely-specialized forms with the Imago Insect; the Reptiles proper being looked at as a sort of active Pupa, and the lower forms of Fishes as representatives of the larval stage of those noble Invertebrates. Nothing shows this relation better than the shoulder-girdle; for in this part the intense life of these hot-blooded creatures has transformed the old elements, creating them anew, as it were, ‘into something rich and strange,” making of those simple limb-roots the proximal part of the highest type of an organ of flight. ‘The tooth- bearing extinct forms (Archwopteryx, Hesperornis, Ichthyornis) throw a much fainter light on this great change than this isolated archaic Fowl. The lowest Mammals, the oviparous Monotremes, still retain the simple or unfused condition of the splint-bones of the shoulder-girdle. ‘The existing Reptiles, especially Lizards, show these splints in their free state, and also a large generalized shoulder-plate belonging to the endo- skeleton, although its most superficial part; for it is formed between the ribs and the skin. Both the ribs and shoulder-plates are formed in the outer layer of the body of the embryo, namely in the somatopleure’. The sternum in the Ist stage (Pl. LX. figs. 1, 2) is already perfectly formed in hyaline cartilage ; even in the 3rd stage no ossification has appeared. The breadth of this short sternum is five-sixths of its length in the fore half; it narrows in behind the last sternal rib, and then widens out again so as to be 1 millim. wider than in front. The form now attained in this half-ripe chick of Opisthocomus is fairly comparable to that which is seen in the sternum of the Common Chick on the sixth or seventh day (Lindsay, pl. xlv. figs. 1-3), and is relatively shorter than in the adult (Huxley, op. cit. p- 306, fig. 8). Otherwise, except in its histological condition and its size, the sternum undergoes but little further change. The rostral process (7.s¢.) is small, rounded, and superior; it grows forwards between the upper lips of the coracoid grooves. * The copious illustrations generously allowed me by the Council of the Ray Society in my memoir on the Shoulder-girdle and the Sternum, published in 1868, come in very useful now, to illustrate this, my newer work. I am also greatly indebted to Miss Beatrice Lindsay for her excellent paper “On the Avian Sternum ” (P.Z.8, June 16, 1885, pp. 684-716, pls. xlii—xly.). MORPHOLOGY OF OPISTHOCOMUS CRISTATUS. 65 In the Common Fow] this part is very large and deep and is fenestrate, so that the coracoid grooves meet in the middle; on the sixth day of incubation (Lindsay, op. cit, pl. xlv. fig. 3) the top of the sternum projects in front but little beyond the bottom where the keel is beginning to form. On the seventh day my figures (soon to appear in the Trans. Linn. Soc.) show an imperforate rudiment of the rostrum and a definite keel, projecting forwards in front, not far behind the rudiment of the rostrum. In this half-ripe Ist stage of Opisthocomus the fore edge of the feeble keel is exactly at the middle of the sternum, and does not reach the end; it is behind the middle if the rostrum is taken into account (Pl. VII., Pl. IX. fig. 1, s¢.é.). This bird, both in this stage and in the adult (see Huxley, op. cit. p. 306, figs. 8, 9), is absolutely unique; the Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) comes nearest it in this respect as far as I have seen. Thus in Opisthocomus the space between the Bird and the Lizard is partly bridged over, the endoskeletal sternum receiving considerable support from the exoskeletal interclavicle, as I shall soon show. Nevertheless, the extension backwards of the sternum, with its spreading metasternal outgrowths and its intermuscular keel, makes even this sternum something very different from that of a Lizard ; it becomes still more unlike in old age (compare Pl. IX. fig. 1 with Huxley’s figure, and with the sternum of various Lacertilia in my memoir, pls. ix., x., xi., xiil.). I see a manifestly archaic character in the very forward setting on of the lst sternal rib (compare my figures with Miss Lindsay’s, op. cit. pl. xlv. fig. 2); there is scarcely any precostal process (pe.p.). The articulation of the five pairs of sternal ribs (s¢.7.) is already complete ; the 3rd is on the most projecting part of the costal margin; these segments are unossified at present and are quite normal. The parts which are developed correlatively with that of the keel for special avian muscular attachment are such as are seen ina large number of existing Carinate birds. ‘These metasternal processes (m.s¢.) are, with the keel, ‘‘ additions of later phylogenetic date” than the costal margins (Lindsay, op. cit. p. 710, fig. 4). In this embryo, and in the adult figured by Prof. Huxley, the outer and inter- mediate metasternal (or xiphoid) processes are only partially divided by a small, oval fenestra. But in the mounted Hunterian specimen (A) this part is notched by a gap 5 millim. deep and 5 millim. wide; the inner notch is nearly of the same size, but is more angular. These modifications of the metasternum in individuals is interesting in this type; so, also, is the want of symmetry in the two moieties of the sternum, as is seen in the median process of this first stage (Pl. IX. fig. 1, m.st.). I have no stage showing the mode of ossification of the sternum; but I strongly suspect that it takes place by distinct ectostoses, as in the Ratite, the Hemipods, and the Fowls?. ‘ In my work on the Shoulder-girdle and Sternum (pls. xvi., xvii.) I have detected an error in my description and figures of the sternum of Turnia (p. 184, pl. xvi. figs. 13, 14), The so-called coracosteon was formed by accident; the preparation is still by me, and I see now that what appeared to be a sutwre is merely a fracture. 66 PROF. W. K. PARKER ON THE The instance of the tooth-bearing Jchthyornis, and also that of the existing Tinamous, show that the keelless sternum is a comparatively recent secondary modifi- cation of this part of the skeleton. The dying-out of the keel has manifestly taken place as part of the same withering of unused structures as that which is seen in the wing of absolutely terrestrial birds. These two groups of Pre-Ratite—the Opistho- comide and the Tinamide—probably co-existed with strong, if short-winged, ancestors of the existing struthious birds. It is very remarkable that in the first of these the keel is at its lowest development, apparently in a primary condition; whilst in the Tinamous the sternum is one of the longest and most carinate of any kind of bird. The shoulder- girdle of Opisthocomus is still more remarkable than its sternum. In the Vertebrata generally, this part is of great morphological interest, for in it, as in the skull, the cartilaginous tracts, ossified or unossified, are supplemented by parostoses or superficial membrane-bones. It is an awkward necessity of this branch of science that its termino- logy is dominated by the terms of Human Anatomy, which, when applied to parts of lower and simpler forms, are often either incorrect or absurd. Thus the term “ coracoid ” for the lower part of the shoulder-plate is absurd—the only coracoid which is like a Crow’s beak is that of Man and a few Mammals; whilst the term “clavicle” is incorrect as applied to a lateral parostosis of the shoulder-girdle in most of the cold- blooded types, for they have a simple membrane-bone, whereas the clavicle in Man and his nearest relatives is a compound structure, in which the parostosis 1s soon blended with eudoskeletal elements. This is due to the hot condition of the blood in Mammals, and the same thing appears in most birds—that is, in those that are furthest removed from the Amphibia and Reptilia. Parts of the endoskeleton that are con- tinuous or unsegmented in the cold-blooded types are variously segmented and abortively developed in the nobler Vertebrata; and thus we meet with vestiges or remnants of archaic structures that are used up in many ways in the metamorphosis of the skeletal elements. In the existing Ratite, and in this ancient Carinate type, the parts of the shoulder-girdle are in a very primitive condition; in Opisthocomus the transformation that takes place is mainly due to arrested growth and to the blending of parts originally separate. At first sight the structure of these parts in the adult does not seem to be different from that of ordinary Carinate birds; the scapula forms a single and complete bone, and so does the coracoid, and they are bent upon each other at an angle less than a right angle, as in flying birds generally. In the Ratitz the axes of these two bones are coincident ; that, however, is a relapse into a degraded condition ; that this was not the case in their ancestors I feel quite certain. In this typically bent and typically narrow shoulder-plate there is, in the half-ripe embryo, a character as unsuspected as it is instructive: the supra-scapula is segmented from the scapula, as the latter is from the coracoid. Even in Man the “posterior edge ” of the scapula is feebly ossified, for a long while at least, thus making a suprascapula ; but in all known adult birds, extinct or existing, the scapula is ossified MORPHOLOGY OF OPISTHOCOMUS CRISTATUS. 67 throughout by one bony ectostosis. Down below, among cartilaginous and semi- cartilaginous fishes, ¢.g. the Skate and the Sturgeon, the suprascapula is a distinct segment of cartilage (op. cit. pl. i.). In the Amphibia Urodela this part is not seg- mented off, but it remains unossified (ibd. pls. iii., iv.); in the Anura, however (did. pls. v.—vil.), the suprascapula is semi-segmented from the scapula and has its own ectostosis and endostosis. In the Lacertilia (77d. pls. viii.—xi.) the suprascapula has its own endosteal tract, but no outer plate of bone; moreover, the cartilage between the two regions is not so much altered as in the Anura, and therefore the supra- scapula cannot be bent upon the scapula to the same extent as in Frogs and Toads. Here, again, the attempt to reconstruct the ancestral bird or birds has to be done in the light of Amphibian Morphology rather than in that of the Reptilia. The supra- scapular segment in my Ist stage (PI. TX. fig. 1, s.sc.) is most distinct on the right side; it is one third the length of the scapula (sc.), is rounded above, uncinate, and dilated at its base, which enclosed the narrow top of the scapula; that top is as yet unossified as the suprascapula itself. The main scapular segment has the usual gently-bent shape, and is dilated below to form the upper part of the glenoid cavity and the very short acromial process (ac.p.). The coracoid (c7.) is much wider than the scapula, but it is only three-fifths the length of the whole bar; its head, which is swollen and large, and its dilated and uncinate base, or epicoracoid region, is as yet unossified; the rounded and narrow shaft is half the length of the whole bar. The shaft-bone ultimately ossifies the whole of the coracoid in this as in all other birds; they have, in their adult state, no semi-carti- laginous tract below, such as is seen in Anura and Lacertilia, nor any separate epi- coracoid bone such as we find in the Monotremes *. Seen from above (Pl. IX. fig. 2) there is a large uncinate flap of cartilage which grows inwards and hooks downwards upon the upper third of the furcular ramus or clavicle ; this is a continuous precoracoid, and this part, in a very diminished condition, forms the so-called “ clavicular process of the coracoid;” it is the precoracoid of Sabatier (Lindsay, op. cit. p. 715). ‘This part is always present, in the embryo at least, in the Ratitee (op. cit. pl. xvii. p.cr.) ?. In the African Ostrich it is as well developed as in the Anura and Chelonia (op. cit. pls. v.—vii., xii.—xvli.). One thing more has to be noticed: this large, continuous, pre- * In her otherwise very accurate memoir, Miss Lindsay has made a curious mistake with an unlooked-for misstatement of my views. She gives a figure (pl. xliy. fig. 1) of the coracoid of Diomedea exulans, and calls the rough top or head of the bone the “ coracoid epiphysis” (cor.ep.), and states that this is “ Parker’s pre- coracoid.” It is, at most, an apophysis; birds have very few epiphyses; generally, the only one is in the ‘¢ procnemial process ” of the tibia. Parker’s precoracoid of birds (see ‘ Shoulder-girdle and Sternum,’ pl. xiii. p.cr.) is a special segment or remnant of the fore margin of the great continuous and fenestrated shoulder- plate of a cold-blooded type, a part enucleated in birds from the general precoracoidal bar. * My son, Prof. T. J. Parker, finds it well developed in some embryos of the Apteryx. VOL. XU1.—Part ul. No. 4.—April, 1891. L 68 PROF. W. K. PARKER ON THE coracoidal flap lies over the clavicle ; the often massive segment, which is manifestly part of the original bar of an archaic type, lies below or behind the clavicle (see in Phala- crocorax and Sula, op. cit. pl. xiii. figs. 8-10, p.cr.), and forms, after separate ossification and fusion with the clavicle, the flat-topped shoulder of the furcular ramus in those types. This addition to the clavicle articulates with the head of the coracoid, under- propping it, and this is the part which in birds I have constantly called the pre- coracoid 1, But there is in some cases another nucleus of cartilage at the top of the clavicle; this I have called the “ meso-scapular segment” (op. cit. pl. xv. figs. 12-15, m.se.s.), for it is manifestly a segment from the meso-scapular or acromial region of the shoulder- plate. It gives rise to the enlargement of the upper and posterior lobe of the wide- topped furcular ramus of all true Passerine birds and of some of the Coccygomorphe, for instance Rhamphastos, Picus, Alcedo, &c. I mention these specializations in the most specialized kinds of birds to show how low is the ornithic level of Opisthocomus ; its furcula will reveal this in a still clearer manner. The furcula of Opisthocomus is composed of three parosteal bones, two clavicles and an interclavicle; and notwith- standing the figures and descriptions given by me long ago, in my large memoir, of a distinct interclavicle in Birds, answering to the long bone of Lizards, Prof. Huxley (op. cit. p. 307) has been careful not to use the term, but calls the stem of the Y-shaped merrythought the “ hypocleidium.” A younger biological sceptic, Miss Lindsay, also doubts my interpretation. She says, speaking of the chick of the 8th day:—‘‘ The ribs at any rate have established their generic characters at this date, which renders it probable that the broadening ossification of the median region of the clavicles, described by Gotte as established during the 8th day, is an outgrowth of the Avian furcula rather than a pre-Avian interclavicle—a view which is expressed by giving to it (as has been done throughout this paper) the name of median furcular apophysis rather than of interclavicle” (op. cit. p. 702). Opisthocomus has, of all birds, the most perfect Y-shaped furcula (Pl. IX. figs. 1-3, cli.cl.); its forks and stem are of equal length. The forks or rami are somewhat sigmoid, are narrow, and bent outwards at the top ; they suddenly flatten out and then gently become narrower, the lower part being only half as wide as the upper. The two clavicles not only close in the semi-oval space, they also run down the stem for half its length, lying close together above, and then becoming slightly separate. Into this space there fits a fine needle of bone, the interclavicle ; it is two-thirds the length of the stem ; thus the hypocleidium is composed of three elements. This interclavicle binds the furcula to the lower face of the sternum, as in the Lizard (op. c7é. pls. vili.—xi.); it can be seen through the transparent cartilage in this first stage. In Lizards it often gets in between the right and left halves of the * See op. cit. p. 150. There I remark that “ the line of segmentation between the coracoid and the great precoracoid segment has become a large oval, gliding, synovial joint.” MORPHOLOGY OF OPISTHOCOMUS CRISTATUS. 69 sternum, and appears on the upper surface (see in Lemanctus, op. cit. pl. ix. fig. 9, 7.cl.). A delicate ligament, half the length of the bony style, connects it with the arrested sternal keel. In the adult bird these three elements are fused into the single furcula, and this bone becomes ankylosed above with the coracoids, and below with the sternum, both rostrum and body; the scapula only remains distinct. This arboreal bird has evidently only developed its organs of flight for flitting; the great amount of ankylosis in its shoulder-girdle suggests this. In my notes on these parts in the Hunterian specimen (old male) I have remarked that “the ankylosis has not obliterated the lines of junction of the large clavicular process of the coracoid with the clavicle, nor of the head of the latter with the acromial process of the scapula, for that bone remains free whilst the others are all melted together—clavicles, interclavicles, coracoids, and sternum.” VI. The Wings of Opisthocomus cristatus. In the Ist stage (Pl. X. figs. 1-3) the wing is as much developed as in my 5th stage of the Common Fowl (Phil. Trans. 1888, B, pl. 62. fig. 7)’. It is necessary for me to refer to those figures, for in them is shown what I find to be constant in all the birds I have studied at that stage, namely that there are at first only two proximal carpals. In the paper referred to I have called these the “ inter- medio-radiale ” and the “centralo-ulnare ;”’ in the adult bird the ordinary nomenclature and ‘“‘ulnare.” It is necessary to remember that ? for these carpals is simply “ radiale’ in the strangely adaptive abortion of many elements of the bird’s fore limb, some parts are primarily, and some secondarily developed, the latter by segmentation of a cartilaginous mass; and this is often very temporary, the parts becoming fused together again, even, in some cases, before the time of hatching. The wing of Opisthocomus, although very much like that of a Fowl in its adult state, yet differs much from it in its development. The long cartilages in the first stage lave already a considerable ectosteal sheath (Pls. VII., X. figs. 1-3). As in the true Fowls, the humerus and cubitus differ but little in length; they are quite normal, and need not be described in this stage. The manus, however, shows many parts that are lost and leave no sign in the adult; all these unlooked-for segments are, never- theless, quite normal parts of a typical cheiropterygium. The two nuclei of cartilage seen in my early stages of the chick attached to the radius and ulna are here seen as five more or less distinct tracts (Pl. X. figs. 1, 2). The radiale (re.) is now a pedate wedge of cartilage lying on the fore margin of the wrist, and most to the flexor or inner side. The intermedium (¢.) is a four-sided short wedge, somewhat lesser than the ‘1 In figs. 1 & 2, 1st and 2nd stages in that paper, the distal carpal (d.c.') is drawn too near the first meta- carpal (m.c.’). In fig. 3 the true position is given, namely inside the head of the great metacarpal. The first distal carpal is always developed in birds as a free nucleus of cartilage in that position; it is a feeble element, displaced to the flexor side of the limb. L2 70 PROF. W. K. PARKER ON THE radiale: it lies on the outer or extensor side of the wrist. On the ulnar side of the wrist, instead of the thick, two-lobed U-shaped carpal so familiar to us in all adult birds, there is, on the flexor side, a pear-shaped carpal (we.), the ulnare proper, which sends its narrow end forwards to articulate with the third metacarpal and its distal carpal (me.’, d.c.°), and which overlaps at its broad end the bulbous distal end of the ulna (w.). The shorter thicker crus of the bilobate ulnare of the adult is here repre- sented by a subcrescentic mass which, behind, is attached to the ulna and free ulnare, and in front by ligament to the second and third distal carpals (d.c.?, d.c.°) at their junction, and also to the postero-distal angle of the intermedium (7.). A transverse chink on the inner face of the mass partially subdivides this centrale into an anterior and a posterior segment (c., ¢.!). These are all the proximal carpals I find in this bird; the distal carpals are three in number, and are constant throughout the Carinate, corresponding to the three constantly developed digits. The second and third distal carpals (d.c.’, d.c.*) are formed from one mass in the early embryo, but the hinder and lesser nucleus is soon detached, and then coalesces again with the larger piece (op. cit. pl. vi. figs. 1-4, d.c.?, d.c.*). The line of segmentation of these two carpals, at a stage a little earlier than this, is indicated by the direction of the cells of the cartilage, which, in the two regions, curve from each other back to back, thus leaving a fine clear tract between the groups of cells. This is soon obliterated, so rapid is the metamorphosis of the parts in these hot-blooded, fast-growing types. The intense growth of the second carpal, metacarpal, and digit, which form the main part of the framework, for the insertion of the primary quills, has dominated the whole manus, and has thrown the elements of the limb out of gear. The third distal carpal lies along the ulnar or hinder side of the second, and is as much lessened as the meta- carpal (mc.") that belongs to it; the two together form a remarkable grooved trochlea on which the proximal carpals roll. The latter are more tightly strapped to the radius and ulna, and here, as in the hind limb, the main movement is between the proximal and distal row of segments. Were there fusion of the proximal carpals with the radius, and did the ulna end in a point, dissimilarity would be complete. Of what service the “alula” is to the bird in flight it is difficult to say; it cannot be of much, as it gives but a slight increase of size to the wing, and that only near the carpal bend. Certain it is that the larger the manus the lesser is the pollex, as we see in the “¢ Macrochires,” the Swifts, and Humming-birds. But here, in this Reptilian bird, the pollex is relatively nearly as large as in Man (PI. X. figs. 1-7); that is, it is so in the embryo, not in the adult (figs. 8, 9). The condition of the first distal carpal is very remarkable; it is a small limpet-shaped cartilage, attached to the head of the first metacarpal on its flexor face (Pl. X. figs. 2, 3, 7, d.c.1). I can give no other inter- pretation to Dr. R. W. Shufeldt’s “ pentostium ” }. * See his “ Osteology of the North-American Tetraonidze,” Geological Survey of the Territories, Washington Oct. 14, 1882, pl. vil. fig. 59, 8. MORPHOLOGY OF OPISTHOCOMUS CRISTATUS. (i In this bird this nucleus of cartilage is further from the metacarpal of the pollex (m.c.1) than in most birds; I find it nearest to that segment, to which I am satisfied it belongs, in the chick of Turnix rostrata’. In that type the ventrally displaced distal carpal is phalangiform, and is of the same breadth as the first metacarpal, but only two thirds as long; it is bulbous at its radial end, and is immovably articulated with its own metacarpal, which is hollowed to receive it. My doubts about the nature of this nucleus are still further dissipated when I consider the manner in which my own pollex is ventrally displaced adaptively. This little nucleus (Pl. X. figs. 2, 3, 7, d.c.') is, 1 doubt not, the counterpart of the human “trapezium.” The first metacarpal (Pl. X. figs. 1, 2, mc.’) is nearly as wide as the second, but is only one fourth its length; it has already, in its cartilaginous condition, become fused with the second for a short space proximally, in a manner similar to the fusion of the third distal carpal with the same large dominating segment. The “ trochanter” projecting from the short, confluent metacarpal, shows some signs of a marginal addition (see Fowl’s Wing, pls. 62-54, me.”); this is the part from which the main spur grows in certain birds. The proximal phalanx of the pollex (dq.") is three-fourths the thickness, and two-thirds the length, of the huge metacarpal joint behind it (me.”); for half its length in the middle it is ossified ; its metacarpal does not ossify until near the time of hatching. The distal or ungual phalanx is relatively larger than the proximal; it is very little less than that of the second digit (dg.’); that measured with the claw on is 2°5 millim. long ; this, of the pollex, is 2 millim. ; the tip of this distal joint is beginning to ossify. If the manus in this stage be measured from the top of the second distal carpal, it will be found that the pollex is more than half the length of the huge index (dq.’, dg.’); the one is 6°5 millim. long, the other 12°5 millim. On the other side of the Class, in the Macrochires, in the adult state, the abortion of the pollex, with its small quills forming the alula, is very remarkable, as the following instances will show :— Length of the Manus Length of the Manus along the Pollea. along the Indew. Cypselus affinis. . . 9 millim. 34 millim. Chetura caudacuta . 15 BS 68 eu opacanpellan wee anes) Aye. 21 B JGGOTONG GUYS. 5 3 BO 34g ONmecs Thus, instead of the first finger being more than half the length of the second, this latter is, in these cases, taking the average, four and a half times as long as the aborted 1 From Formosa, the gift to me, many years since, of the late Consul Swinhoe. The skull of one of these valuable chicks has already been described by me in these Transactions (vol. ix. pl. liy.); the sternum and shoulder-girdle were also described in my work on those parts, and figures and descriptions of the remainder of the skeleton will soon be published. 72 PROF. W. K. PARKER ON THE first digit; the disproportion is greater in the Humming-birds than in the Swifts. I must now notice a remarkable structure. The manner in which the ectosteal sheath of the second metacarpal passes along the ulnar side of the first (Pl. X. figs. 1-7, mc.2, mc.!) is repeated on a smaller scale in the pollex, while at the radial margin of the top of the proximal phalanx there is a rounded flap of cartilage which runs forwards in a sharp wedge ending in ligamentous fibres at the middle of the joint. Besides this, in all these embryonic stages there is a wedge-shaped mass of inter- articular cartilage (é.a.c.), which, solid and definite as it is, only remains for a time; in the adult (figs. 8, 9, dg.) it is reduced to a mere film. That these structures belong to a veritable “ prepollex” I have no doubt; they are not the only cartilaginous tracts on the radial side of the manus to be seen in Birds, as I shall show in another paper. The index (dg.’) is greatly overgrown ; but for that the pollex would be seen to be quite normally developed as compared with that of an average Reptile. The phalanges have undergone the same degree of ossification as those of the pollex, and moreover its metacarpal (me.") is ossified in an equal degree ; its distal phalanx has also the tip ossified even in the Ist stage, as in the pollex. The metacarpus is twice as long as the proximal phalanx, and it is one sixth longer than the second and third. That third phalanx is generally lost, often suppressed, in Birds; here it has its most remarkable development, and is but little less than that of the second digit in the foot (Pl. VIL). This digit is not simple; it has been complicated by intercalary or secondary structures; which, however, are not peculiar to this bird, but are very common in-the Carinate. These are, first, a tract of cartilage on the extensor face of the wrist, which creeps down between the head of the second and third metacarpals (Pl. X. figs. 1, 6, me.”); this breaks out at the top of the interosseous space into a bead-like swelling, which in Gallinaceous birds (op. cit. pls. 62-64, mc.”), in Passerines, and in some of their Cuculine allies, grows into a large flat plate, which bridges over the proximal end of that space. Below, on the ulnar edge of the proximal phalanx of this great digit (dq.), there is a lanceolate tract of newer cartilage that receives its bony matter from the phalanx, and this becomes a mere flange to that joint, broadening it for the insertion of the “ primaries ;” this part has its own osseous centre in the Raptores. I look upon this structure as a sort of bifurcation, like that which is so often seen in the roughly finished cheiropterygium of the Ichthyosaurs. The starved third digit (dg.’) has its slender metacarpal (me.*) separated from the second by a large lanceolate interosseous space; proximally it begins much lower down than tlie second ; it is continued a little further below; it is largely ossified. The phalanges of the third digit (dg.°) are in a curiously-aborted condition ; there is an attempt at segmentation into what should be, according to the Reptilian norma, four phalanges. In the Ist stage (Pl. X. fig. 1) there is one cartilaginous tract two-thirds the length and half the breadth of the proximal phalanx of the second digit; the end of this tract is raised and hooked, and is, indeed, a semi-segmented ungual phalanx. MORPHOLOGY OF OPISTHOCOMUS CRISTATUS, 73 In the 2nd and 3rd stages (figs. 5-7) the main part has an ectosteal sheath, so that it looks as if it were forming three segments. The ungual phalanx has now become a mere cap of cartilage on the end of the main segment (fig. 5, dg.*). In my paper on the Fowl’s Wing (pl. 64. figs. 12, 13, pl. 65. figs. 1-3) I have shown that in Struthio and Rhea there is a very small wnguwis on the third as well as on the first and second digits. In the same paper (pls. 62-64.) I have shown, also, that in many cases there is the rudiment of a fourth digit; this is cautiously lettered (dg.*) as an addendum to the third metacarpal (me.”). It is a notable part in some old birds, for instance in Rhamphastos toco.and Dicholophus cristatus. ere, as in many other birds, I do not find a fourth metacarpal, but there is a rudimentary phalangeal cartilage in all these three stages (figs. 1, 5, 6, 7, dg.*); it is most clearly seen in the 2nd stage (fig. 5). It is a pyriform lobe of cartilage, with its narrow end forwards, and is adherent to the ulnar edge of the abortive third finger; it is about one third its size. Most of the metamorphosis of a bird occurs in the encysted stage, whilst it is still in the egg, and this takes place in a marvellously rapid manner. But during the first year, as I long ago showed in my paper on the Fowl’s Skull (Phil. Trans. 1869, pls. 81-87. pp. 755-897), and afterwards to the end of life, in some degree slow obliterative change still takes place through the gradual increase of bony substance. We shall look in vain in the wing-bones of the adult Opisthocomus for much of what I have described in the embryo. A comparison of this wing with that of a few other types will show that its manus is unusually long. Notwithstanding the great distance of this bird from the Macrochires, it has like them, but not to the same degree, a long distal segment to its wing-skeleton ; in this respect it comes nearer to the Pteroclide and Turnicide than to the Cracide. This wing agrees with that of the Cracide and Megapodide (Peris- teropodes), and also with the Pteroclide, Turnicide, and 'Tinamide, in having the bridge over the proximal part of the interosseous space of the manus (Pl. X. fig. 8, me.”’); in this, like them, it differs from the Alectoropodous Fowls, the Phasianide, Tetraonide, &c. The length of the three main divisions of the wing-skeleton in six types is as follows (all these are taken from adults, except Turnix rostrata, which was a chick of a week or two old) :— Humerus. Cubitus. Manus. Opisthocomus cristatus. . 70 millim. 72:5 millim. 69 millim. CrariGlovicend an 40) es 150 &s 115 ¥, TOUR GOSH. 5 6 5 MR CAN ose 18 ss Chauna chavaria. . . . 182 BS 204 Fe 155 - Corythaiz buffoni . . . 48 3 42 a 37 se Talegalla lathami . . . 84 3 86 _ 71 5 So that this type agrees with Crax, Chauna, and Talegalla in having the cubitus larger than the humerus; its manus is but little less than its cubitus, differing in this 74 PROF. W. K. PARKER ON THE respect from all the others except Turniz, in which the distal is nearly one third longer than the middle segment. The humerus of Opisthocomus is almost as well developed as ina Pigeon; the thick uncinate snag below the head and in front of the large pneumatic foramen is very large, and there is a strong crest for the pectoralis major *. The radius, ulna, and manus are all strong, normally gallinaceous, and indeed very similar to those of Crax globicera ; the quill-marks on the ulna are less than in Corythaig, but larger than in Crax. The two proximal carpals are now normally ornithic; all signs of their division are lost (Pl. X. figs. 8, 9, i.7., ¢.w.). The distal carpals are completely fused with each other and with the three metacarpals (figs. 8, 9, d.c.", d.c.”, d.c.°; mc.’, mc.?, me.*). ‘The trochanter on the short first metacarpal is low down, but strong ; the first distal carpal (fig. 9, d.c.') is a rounded knob of bone looking obliquely downwards and forwards toward the first metacarpal. The proximal and distal intercalary parts behind the index (mc.”, dg.”) are completely fused with that member. There is a distinct semi-oval ungual phalanx to both the pollex and index (dg.’, dg.”), and in spite of growth and ossification the distal joint of the third digit (dg.*) is still visible, and also the still more instructive remnant, the aborted phalanx of the fourth finger (dyg.”). Mr. Perrin, in his figures of the wing, shows the unguis both on the index and pollex (ibid. pl. Ixiv. figs. 1, 2). VII. The Hip-girdle of Opisthocomus cristatus. In the Ist stage (Pls. VIL. & IX. figs. 4 & 5) the moieties of the hip-girdle are scarcely more than half ossified; they have already acquired their permanent form and position, and are passing from the Ornithoscelidan, through the Struthious, to the normal Carinate condition. Thus the axes of the pre-ilium and pubis are nearly coincident (pr.z., pb.), and the ischium is still separate from the post-ilium (p¢.7.). The post-ilium is only three fourths the length of the pre-ilium ; this has only a short tract of cartilage in front; the other part is largely unossified at present. The two moieties are now a great width apart—one third more than their own breadth; this is due to the large relative size of the sacral chain of vertebre. The pre-ilia narrow in forwards sinuously ; the post-ilia at the hinder part of the acetabulum form the projecting facet, right and left, for the articular surface of the trochanter major. ‘They then narrow in suddenly, and again widen out to form the projecting eaves of the pelvis; they then become narrow and die out, and the end of the post-ilium has a sub-uncinate form ; it is slightly curved inwards. Under the projecting eave the post-ilium grows downwards in its last two-thirds to meet the ischium; its fore third is deficient, and thus forms the sacro-ischiatic space (s.i,f.). The three elements of the hip fail to join completely at the acetabulum, which is always, in birds, open within. The ischium (ésc.) reaches 1 That muscle is really very massive (see Mr. Perrin’s valuable paper, Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. ix. pl. Lxiii. fig. 3). MORPHOLOGY OF OPISTHOCOMUS CRISTATUS. 75 a little further backwards than the post-ilium; behind it is notched above and lobate below. The pubis (p.) is half the breadth of the ischium, but it is one third longer ; it thickens behind and then narrows to a rounded point. At the last fourth of its length it is still, as in front, unossified; and this part is twisted upon itself in the same manner as I find it in the Guillemot (Uria troile). In that bird the prenasal rostrum and Meckel’s cartilages are similarly twisted, as also is the epicerato-hyal band in this bird. If I had found these twisted cartilages in the embryo of a tame or domestic bird 1 should, of course, have put them to the account of Teratology. I cannot do this either in the Guillemot or the Hoatzin ; in these birds, which are in a state of nature, they have manifestly an ontogenetic meaning. In the fossil Toothed Birds (Marsh, ‘ Odontornithes,’ pls. i., xx., xxi., xxii.) the bill is relatively much longer than in average modern birds related to them: Hesperornis is a Colymbine Grebe ; Ichthyornis is an ancient Gull; the length of their jaws bears out this view. In the hyoid arch I have shown that the bird agrees with Hatteria (Huxley, P. Z.S. 1869, p- 397, fig. 4); it merely loses part of that arch by absorption, but not without an attempt on its part to grow larger. The rest of the organization forbids this, and it becomes a twisted tape. All these things have but one explanation. The forms that among extinct Reptiles come nearest to Birds in their hip-girdle— namely, the Ornithoscelida—have an exceedingly long pubis and ischium (Dollo, ‘Bulletin du Musée Royal d'Histoire Naturelle de Belgique,’ tome i. 1882, planche ix. & tome ii. planche v.). The ancestral birds must have come much nearer these Reptiles than modern types; but these latter all pass in their hip-girdle through an Ornithoscelidan stage after they have lost the general Reptilian condition of this part. ‘The gently modified Ornithoscelidan pelvis of the African Ostrich has its very accurate counterpart in the embryo of the Swan (Cygnus), in which bird, for teleological reasons, the postacetabular region of the pelvis is extremely long and the pubes very large, as in the Ostrich, but they are not, as in that bird, fused together below. The hip-girdle of the adult Opisthocomus has to be studied with the sacrum as part of the pelvis. Prof. Huxley (op. cit. p. 308) says :—<'The pelvis (figs. 10, 11) is more like that of Coturnix than that of Corythaix ; but though it resembles both, it differs from both in the absence of any ilio-pectinal process, and in the circumstance that the ilio-sacral fossee are completely roofed over by bone. The obturator foramen, as in many Galli- naceous birds, is not bounded by bone behind ; in Corythaia it is:” [ bounded, but not perfectly enclosed, by ankylosis of the ischium and pubis, any more than in Gallinaceous birds and Opisthocomus. Moreover, Corythaix has the roofing of the post-ilium over the ilio-sacral fossee, although not to the same extent as in Opisthocomus}. The pelvis of Opisthocomus is very generalized, and differs very much from that of the Gallinaceze proper (Peristeropodes and Alectoropodes) ; they have the postacetabular region much broader, and the breadth is seen in its most remarkable degree in Cupidonia cupido (Shufeldt, op. cit. “ Tetraonide,” pl. xii.). In that bird, and in Talegalla lathami, the VOL. XIII.—PART I. No. 5.—April, 1891. M 76 PROF. W. K. PARKER ON THE prepubic spur is very small; it is somewhat larger in Crax, and still larger in Penelope (Huxley, op. cit. p. 298, figs. 8, 4). In the Alectoropodes it is, as a rule, well deve- loped, and also in Tinamous (Tr. Z. 8. vol. v. pl. xl. fig. 3; Marsh, op. cit. p. 73, fig. 20). ‘The greatest development of this part in the Carinate is in certain Coccygo- morphe—for instance, Geococcyx (Marsh, op. cit. p. 73, fig. 19, and Shufeldt, Journ. Anat. Phys. vol. xx. pl. 8. figs. 9 & 11); and I find it in a similar state in that American Cuckoo, Saurothera vieilloti. This bird agrees with the Rallide, both extinct and existing, in respect of these post-iliac eaves (see Owen on “ Aptornis defossor,” ‘Tr. Z. §., vol. viii. pl. 15, and Shufeldt on “ Porzana carolina,” Journ. of Comp. Med. & Surg. July 1888, art. 17, p. 89, figs. 4 & 5). The existing Rallide have the prepubic spur very distinct, although rather smaller than in the high-heeled Fowls. ‘There is a family of birds, however,—the Turnicide—in which the spur is suppressed, and in which, also, the post-ilium forms an eave over the sacro-ischiatic fenestra, exactly as in Opisthocomus—for instance, Hemipodius varius (Tr. Z. 8. vol. v. pl. 35. figs. 5 & 8). The same structure, also, is to be seen in Yurnix rostrata. Another peculiarity of the hip-girdle, in which these two types also agree, is the very generalized condition of the ischium in form and in its relation to the pubis. Long ago (Tr. Z. S. vol. v. p. 172), speaking of the congeners of the Hemipods, I remarked :— ‘These allies are very numerous; and it is hard to say which of them should be placed nearest this, one of the most ‘ mixed’ forms in the whole range of Ornithology.” This family, the Turnicide, is not so near extinction as that one-membered family, the Opisthocomide. I will conclude this account of the pelvis of the Hoatzin by giving, for comparison’s sake, the length of the pre-ilia and post-alia in six types :— Pre-ilium. Post-ilium. Conythain bufiont (0s) 0.) 4) 24emillim, 21 millim. Opisthocomus cristatus: . 1. © 9 =. 88.) 5, Qi Hemipodius varius 2 5 = =) - 21 i fare Durnia nostrata, avs 60) ese OLN. Tae: Chae MOWGG 8 2 6 6 6 6 6 9 TAs Oma ONAN GUD 6 co 5 46 6 6 « WS oy 54, A careful study of the muscular system of the hind limbs, and its meaning and relation to the habits of these birds, would show cause for the various relative lengths of the two regions of the enormously extended ilium; in the true Gallinaceous birds there is great oscillation, so to speak, in these lengths, as the five figures given by Prof. Huxley show (op. cit. pp. 298-301, figs. 3-7). These figures, and those of the Hoatzin (op. cit. p. 308, figs. 10 & 11), show that there is one remarkable difference between the pelvis of this bird and that of the Alectoromorphe. In the latter the pre-ilia are so united with the sacral spine by ankylosis as to form a right and left gallery, open at MORPHOLOGY OF OPISTHOCOMUS CRISTATUS. U0 both ends; the same thing is seen in Corythaix; in Opisthocomus there is a clear space between these parts, right and left; this is also seen in the Turnicide. Even this part of the skeleton, therefore, like the rest, suggests a low ornithological position for this bird, and justifies the use of the term archaic as applied to it. VIII. Lhe Hind Limb of Opisthocomus cristatus. The leg of Opisthocomus in the Ist stage is strong and rather stout (Pl. VII.); its long elements have a considerable ectosteal sheath ossifying the solid cartilage. The parts of this limb differ little from those of an embryo of the Common Fowl at this stage ; we shall find a few notable differences, showing that we are, here, at the parting of the ways. ‘The relative length of the main divisions of the limb, at this stage, is very similar to what is seen in a large number of those Carinate that have moderately long legs, whether they are Perchers, Walkers, or Runners. Measured from the chief points of flexure, these parts have now their length as below :— Femur. Tarso-tibia. Tarso-metatarsus. 3rd toe. 11 millim. 13 millim. 8 millim. 14 millim. The ends of the large cartilages are still unossified, and they will not be finished by epiphyses, except in the case of the cnemial process of the tibia: in a few Cuculine birds the top of the fibula has a small epiphysis, but that is rare in the Carinate; in the fore limb, in some rare cases, sometimes the radius and sometimes the ulna has an epiphysis. ‘The cnemial process is not large; the fibula (f0.) has shrunk to half the length of the tibia (¢.); the tibia is quite distinct from the proximal tarsals (¢., joe.). All the true tarsal elements are free from bony deposit at present (Pls. VII. & X. fig. 10). There is some contention as yet as to the true nature of these segments ; but, after much labour and thought, my own mind is made up as to their morpho- logical meaning. When I first asked whether or no the lower part of the tibia was an epiphysis or “the homologue of the Mammalian astragalus ” (“On Baleniceps rex,” Tr. Z. S. vol. iv. p. 343), I was still in the dark as to the nature of the ‘ sesamoid os calcis.” Since then, several anatomists, notably Gegenbaur and Huxley, have worked at this part of the bird’s skeleton. One of the most valuable pieces of work on this subject is Dr. Morse’s paper “ On the Intermedium in Birds” (Ann. Mem. Boston Nat. Hist. 1880), though his views, which are mine also, have been controverted by Dr. G. Baur’. In a paper (ready for publication), my son, Prof. T. J. Parker, also holds the same views as Dr. Baur; his observations have been made on the development of the Apteryx. Jam perfectly convinced of the truth of Dr. Morse’s views. Nevertheless I believe that there are only two morphological elements in the proximal tarsal series— an astragalus, or tibiale, and a calcaneum, or fibulare. The so-called sesamoid, or ' See his paper, ‘ Der Tarsus der Vogel und Dinosaurier,’’ Morph. Jahrb, Bd. viii. pp. 417-456, Taf. 19, 20. M 2 78 PROF. W. K. PARKER ON THE “caleaneal ossicle” of the older writers, belongs to a lower stratum; it is a centrale. The intermedium, the so-called ‘ascending process” of the astragalus, evidently belongs to a higher series—namely, to those of the leg. I classify it with the tibia and fibula. In the Chick, after seven days’ incubation, my Ist stage in this research, in the 2nd stage, after eight days, and in the 3rd stage, after ten days, I have examined these parts with great care. In all these stages the ascending process of the astragalus is an oblique flange of hyaline cartilage, which runs from the top of the tibiale towards its outer side to the top of the fibulare on its inner, and then grows upwards. It cannot, therefore, in this early condition be proved to be the intermedium. Miss Johnson’s preparation (Stud. Morph. Lab. Camb. vol. ii. 1886, pl. v. fig. 9) and Dr. Baur’s sections (op. cit.) do not, in embryos answering to my Ist stage, show the ascending process. At this date the globular fibulare is much more solid than the wedge-shaped tibiale; the front surface of the latter, and especially the part which forms the ascending process, is still composed of indifferent tissue. In a day or two, however, the chondrification is completed, and then the ascending process partly overlaps the fibulare and the end of the fibula. In the Chick the process is short, but in Opisthocomus, as in the Ostrich, it is long. In my Ist stage (PI. X. fig. 10) the tibiale and the fibulare are confluent ; the outer condyle is formed by the latter. The rest of the ascending process, which is almost four times as long as the interspace between the two condyles, has become partly confluent with the antero-superior face of the fibulare; a notch marks its line of junction. A little above the notch a small ectosteal sheath has already appeared—-the “os intermedium ;” above this the carti- lage first enlarges and then becomes a narrow style, which lies in front of the tibia towards its outer side. The remaining cartilage, at the lower end of the tibia, which has the same depth as the distal tarsal mass, is still sharply separated from that mass. Postero-internally there is a crescentic cartilage (Pls. VII. & X. fig. 10, ¢.), the centrale or scaphoid, which is formed out of the interarticular plate ; this forms the bone which was supposed to be the os calcis. Below the joint the distal tarsal mass (d.¢.?“) is cupped right and left to receive the condyles, but sends upwards in the middle an intercondyloid knob ; its lower surface fits to the flattened tops of the second, third, and fourth metatarsals, which are not ossified above. A rudiment of a fifth metatarsal did exist on its outer side; the aborted first metatarsal is placed distally ; it has also begun to ossify. In the relation of the distal tarsal mass to the three large and one abortive metatarsal segments, a single cartilage or “ chondrite” may be the connate representative of several chondrites. In the third stage (Pl. X. fig. 11) the ankle- joint is considerably altered; the tibia has much less cartilage below; that is still, however, distinct from the proximal tarsal mass. Over the interspace between the two condyles there is now a cartilagimous tendon bridge (PI. X. fig. 11, ¢.dr.). The ascending process is relatively narrower in its lower half; its upper three fourths is entirely ossified by an ectostosis, like the tibia and fibula, The larger tibiale and MORPHOLOGY OF OPISTHOCOMUS CRISTATUS., 79 the lesser fibulare have not yet appeared as bony centres; they commence two or three weeks after the intermedium, and are formed as central endostoses, like the bony matter in the lower tarsal mass. This anachronism as to the ossifications of these three parts is very remarkable, and the type of ossification is entirely different; the intermedium is a shaft-bone, whilst the tibiale and fibulare, as in tarsals and carpals generally, are ossified like epiphyses. The toes at the Ist stage (Pl. VII., dy.!4) are already developed; the second is a little shorter and also stouter than the fourth; the third is very long, but its proximal and distal phalanges are smaller than those of the first toe or hallux; the size of this heel is very remarkable. The ossification of the ungual phalanges is at the end and not in the middle, as in the others. The so-called ascending process of the tibiale requires an ontological explanation ; its ossification, I am quite satisfied, is an inter- medium ; and this, I take it, is not a tarsal, but belongs to the leg, as the intermedium in the wing does to the forearm. The intermedium, in the generalized fore-paddle of certain extinct Reptiles, is seen to reach up to the humerus, between the radius and ulna (see Marsh on “ Sauranodon,” Amer. Journ. of Sci. vol. xix., Feb. 1880, p. 170, fig. 1 ; and D'Arcy W. Thompson, Journ. of Anat. & Phys. vol. xx. pp. 1-4). Even in Birds, and those of the higher sort, I find, in some cases, the wedge of the intermedio-radiale, which grows upwards between the radius and ulna, elongated and segmented off, as in the nestling of Spizella pusilla, and in another species of Spizella I found the apex, representing the intermedium, separately ossified from the radiale. In Opisthocomus, as we have seen, and in some other birds, the intermedium of the carpus is, for a short time, separate. We cannot derive the Bird from any known Reptilian or Amphibian type; the true ancestor of the Feathered Fowl did not possess a cheiropterygium, but its limbs were ichthyopterygia ; and the same may be said of the existing Amphibia, all known Reptiles, and the Mammalia also 1. In the adult Opisthocomus the hind limb is stout and strong, like that of a Gallina- ceous bird. The femur is well arched; the tarso-tibia also is normal; its cnemial outgrowth is not large; there is the usual tendon bridge below, and a shallow inter- condyloid space for the short process of the tarso-metatarsus. The fibula is half the length of the tibia; the centrale forms a notable pseudo-sesamoid. The tarso-metatarsus has a strong grooved process behind its head, which was pre-formed in cartilage developing posterior vertical ridges to serve as pulleys for the flexor tendons. There is only one hole in this mass (Huxley, op. cit. p. 309, fig. 12), as in Corythaix, and also in Craxz, and in the Gallinacee generally. ‘his hole is finished by a periosteal 1 The marvellous series of extinct Reptiles discovered in stratum under stratum has emboldened some biologists in the matter of ancestry. Guesswork, however, is not science; and we have no proof that certain archaic forms begat others that are of a more recent date: we “ have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.” 80 PROF. W. K. PARKER ON THE plaster. ‘There is a small hole between the middle and inner metatarsals near the top. The lower condyles of the shank agree very closely with those of Crax, but the tarso- metatarsus differs from that of the Curassow in its flatness, from side to side, and in the degree of concavity of the anterior outline. The condyle for the fourth digit is quite Cracine, being somewhat grooved, and having an outer process, which reaches a considerable distance backwards. In Corythaix this condyle is slightly grooved, but the inner half is larger, and that bird has a mobile outer toe. There is very little difference, in Opisthocomus, between the proximal and penultimate phalanges. The hallux, or first digit, is larger than in the Megapodide and Cracide, and its claw is the largest of the four, as I have shown in the Ist stage (Pl. VII., dg.1); thus the foot of this bird is truly Insessorial; it is more of a Percher than its nearest relatives, the Curassows. IX. RECAPITULATION AND SUMMARY. a. The Ornithological Position of Opisthocomus. The existing Carinate birds are extremely hard to classify; we are embarrassed with the riches of this great Avifauna; but there is one clue that can be used, namely that the fewer there are in any family the more archaic that family is, and vice versd. 'The Ratite have acquired their distinguishing character ; it is evidently not primary. The Tinamous and the Hoatzin are, in many respects, as archaic as the Ratite; in some more so. If the term Dromeomorphe is to be retained, let it take in the Ratite and the Tinamide. Next to that group would be the Alectoromorphe, and the lowest of these would be Opisthocomus——the Opisthocomide ; the highest the Columbide: that group would also take in the Pteroclide, which lie under the Pigeons. Here, also, between the Tinamous and the Quails, would be placed the Turnicide (not to be called Turnicomorphe—that term is too general). Then, on the other side of the class, the Cypselomorphe and the Psittacomorphe should be melted into the common mass with the rest of the Coccygomorphe ; we should thus get an Order to compare with the Coracomorphe, as variable as that Order is uniform, Ornitho- logists must understand that terms taken from the anatomical structure of birds are not ornithological; they are morphological terms, which the Ornithologist uses for taxonomic purposes. Sometimes they are of very little value; at other times they can be applied to large assemblages of birds. Thus Prof. Huxley’s term Aigithognathe is of great value; the only Family outside the great Passerine group -(Coracomorphe) which has that peculiar modification of an open or schizognathous palate is the Cypse- lide. Thus the morphological term Aigithognathe can be nearly superimposed upon the ornithological term Coracomorphe. But the term Desmognathe has no such wide use, nor the term (one of my own coining) Saurognathe; the Toucans are Desmo- enathe, the Woodpeckers are Saurognathe ; yet these two groups are closely related. In the present state of our knowledge Taxonomy is a very tentative science ; it is only MORPHOLOGY OF OPISTHOCOMUS CRISTATUS. 81 a sort of rough scaffolding, and not a Temple of Nature; moreover, each ornithological artisan will use his own classification, and that of no one else; thus there are as many systems as there are Ornithologists. We see this most instructively in the case of that most skilful worker, whose classification I have just reviewed. In his Coracomorphe six thousand species are fagoted together; his Heteromorphe contains only one species—Opisthocomus cristatus. It is true, however, that this bird differs more from any other existing type than any, the most diverging, do amongst the whole multitude of Passerines. Again, by choosing those characters in the members of two distant Families that agree, and forgetting those in which they differ, it is not difficult to make a “happy family” out of very discordant members. If we are desiring to use a compre- hensive term, well and good; but the binder round such a group should be made of an elastic withy, and not of cast iron. Now in Prof. Huxley’s Cecomorphe (op. cit. pp. 457, 458), the Gulls, Petrels, and Auks are put together; but the Penguins are left out, and the term Spheniscomorphe merely means the same as Spheniscide. But the Great Auk was a very accurate isomorph of a Penguin. The extinct toothed birds, Hesperornis and Ichthyornis, have to be packed together inside this Cecomorphous bundle ; for the former is the quasi-parental form of the Grebes and Loons, and the latter is the Gull of an old dispensation. The problem is rendered more difficult by the fact that the Grebes, Loons, and Petrels, like the ancient Hesperornis, have the newest form of avian vertebral articulation. Their cervical and dorsal vertebre are cylindroidal or heteromorphous; whilst the dorsals in Gulls and the Alcide are opisthoccelous. In the Gulls, most instructively, there is a partial retention of the amphiccelous condition, which is seen in the presacrals, generally, of Ichthyornis. Now as to Opisthocomus, I would drop its group term Heteromorphe, and yet hold on to the spirit of that term, whilst I discard the letter. This bird, an archaic Fowl, or Gallinaceous type, differs from the Gallinaceous birds of its own Neotropical Territory, namely the Cracide, as much as the most Passerine of the Coccygomorphe do from their nearest allies in the great Passerine group. ‘This bird, like the Tinamous, belongs to the same general stratum of old forms as the Ratite ; but it has not, nor have the Tinamous, lost the sternal keel, nor the size and strength of the wings. Its isolation suggests at once its ancientness; its morphology, which throws some light on its ontogeny, teaches the same thing. Like the Tinamou, it is an arrested type; the Ratite are both an arrested and a degraded group. I suspect that the earliest birds were Carinate. b. Lhe Light cast upon the Ontogeny of Birds by the Morphology of Opisthocomus. In the skull of Opisthocomus we have the fundamental form of that of a Carinate bird ; it has undergone that remarkable change by which the upper face can be moved upon the frontal region. In this it is above the Struthionide, which, like Reptiles, have no such hinge. Its basipterygoids, although they die out, are truly Struthious. The 82 PROF. W. K. PARKER ON THE hyoid arch is not only essentially the same as that of Hatteria, but the descending bar of cartilage, which is aborted in the middle in all birds, is in it unusually large and shows signs of secular shortening by its folded or puckered condition. ‘The vertebral chain has the same development as in Gallinaceous birds generally ; its dorsals are eylindroidal, but so also are those of the Tinamou, the Ratite, and, as I have just mentioned, Hesperornis, a bird so long extinct ; hence it is evident that this peculiarly avian structure is extremely ancient. The appendages of the ribs are not typical; they, however, are well seen in Hatteria and, to some degree, in the Crocodiles, whilst they are absent in Chawna—an archaic Chenomorph. Those parts of the body which, becoming transformed for the purposes of flight, dominate all the rest of the organism—the sternum, shoulder-girdle, and wings—are, in this bird, so very instructive as to make it very precious to the Morphologist: in this it has no peer. The sternum, in the backward position of its small keel and the feeble development of the postcostal or metasternal region, is an intermediate structure between that of a Bird and that of a Lizard. So also is the shoulder-girdle in all its parts and relations ; besides which the scapula is developed in the same manner as in the Frogs and Toads. The wings in the embryonic stage not only have the claws of the first and second digits nearly as large as in the foot, but there is, as in the Ostrich and Rhea, a rudimentary unguis on the third half-aborted digit, and a phalangeal remnant of a fourth digit ; a metacarpal remnant is seen in the Fowl and several other birds. ‘The carpus, as in a few other birds, is, for a time, divided into at least seven segments, and is then essep- tially like that of an Amphibian or a Chelonian. For a time the pubis strives to attain to an Ornithoscelidan length ; after the middle of incubation it acquires its proper relative avian length. But the history was taken up at its middle—at the middle, actually, of incubation ; it is, however, in the still earlier stages that the ontogeny of this Class is seen most clearly; those earlier stages have had to be worked out in less archaic types. ‘The true Archwopteryx is lost in the almost infinite past; the “so-called Archwopteryx” is very doubtful as a parental form. It does, however, help us to imagine how the vertebral internodes became aborted and partly suppressed, so that a feather-shaped tail became fan-shaped, the rectrices being set in a semicircle instead of growing out of the sides of a long Reptilian tail, We have, however, nothing intermediate between these two types of tail even in the Cretaceous birds. Something of the same sort has occurred in the limbs. If the limbs of Ceratodus may be taken as a pattern of an ichthyopterygium there has been a secular shortening of some, and suppression of other, axial parts or internodes: thus we get the shortened radiating fan-shaped limb—the proper cheiro- pterygium ; that, in turn, had to be transformed into the avian fore limb or wing. MORPHOLOGY OF OPISTHOCOMUS CRISTATUS. X. List of Abbreviations used in the Letterpress and Plates. (The Roman Numerals indicate nerves and their foramina.) ac. Acetabulum. ds.v. Dorso-sacral vertebre. ac.p. Acromial process. d.v. Dorsal vertebre. ag. Angulare. é.br. Epibranchial. al.e. Aliethmoid. e.hy. Epibyal. al.n. Alinasal. em. External nostril. al.s. Alisphenoid. e.o. Exoccipital. al.sp. Aliseptal. e.st. Extrastapedial. ao. Antorbital. eu. Eustachian opening. ar. Articulare. f. Frontal and Femur. a.s.c. Anterior semicircular canal. fo. Fibula. at. Atlas. foe. Fibulare. a.t.r. Anterior tympanic recess. fm. Foramen magnum. au. Auditory capsule. fr. Furcula. ax. Axis. g. Ganglion. 6.h.br. Basihyobranchial. gl. Glenoid cavity. b.hy. Basihyal. h. Wuamerus. b.o. Basioccipital. h.s.c. Horizontal semicircular canal. b.s. Basisphenoid. i. Intermedium. b.¢. Basitemporal. i.a.c. Interarticular cartilage. c. Centrale. 7.ag. Internal angular process. c.a. Costal appendage. z.c. Internal carotid. c.br, Ceratobranchial. ic. Intercentrum, cd.v, Caudal vertebre. i.cl. Interclavicle. cf.c. Craniofacial cleft. al. Tlium. c.hy. Ceratohyal. i.o,f. Interorbital fenestra. el, Clavicle. i.r. Intermedio-radiale. em, Centrum. isc. Ischium. cn.p. Cnemial process. i.st. Infrastapedial. er. Coracoid. i.tb. Inferior turbinal. c.r. Cervical rib. i.tr. Intertrabecula. er.g. Crista galli. j. Jugal. cu. Centralo-ulnare. 1. Lachrymal. c.v. Cervical vertebrae. lc. Lachrymal canal. d. Dentary. Is.v. Lumbo-sacral vertebre. d.c. Distal carpals. mk. Meckel’s cartilage. dg. Digit. m.st. Metasternum and Mediostapedial. VOL. Xil1.—Part 11. No. 6.—April, 1891. N 84 nC PROF. W. K. PARKER ON THE . Metacarpal. mt. Metatarsal. m.ty me. M.D. Nn. ne. Np. n.W. ob.f. 06.0. Op. . Parietal. . Palatine. . Posterior angular process. . Parasphenoid. . Pubis. . Precoracoid. . Precostal process. . Perpendicular ethmoid. . Membrana tympani. Maxillary. Maxillo-palatine. Nasal. Notochord. Nasal wall. Obturator fenestra. Occipital condyle. Opisthotic. . Pterygoid. . Prenasal. . Prepollex. . Pre-ilium. . Prootie. . Presphenoid. . Posterior semicircular canal. . Post-ilium. . Premaxillary. . Pituitary space. . Quadrate. Nasal process of premaxillary. ). Quadrato-jugal. . Radius. . Rostrum of basisphenoid. . Radiale. .st. Rostral process of sternum. . Supra-angulare. Scapula, Sacro-ischiatic fenestra. . Septum nasi. . Supraoccipital. . Splenial. . Squamosal. r. Sacral rib. . Suprascapula. . Suprastapedial. st. Stapes and Sternum. . Sternal keel. . Sternal ribs. Sacral vertebra. . Tibia. . Tibiale. . Tendon bridge. . Lympanic wing of exoccipital. . Tympanic cavity. . Ulna. . Ulnare. . Uropygium. . Uro-sacral vertebre. . Vomer. . Vestibule. *. Vertebral rib. XI. DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES. PLATE VII. Opisthocomus cristatus (1st Stage): skeleton, side view, x 44 diam. MORPHOLOGY OF OPISTHOCOMUS CRISTATUS. 85 PLATE VIII. Fig. 1. The same (1st Stage): skull, lower view, x 6 diam. Fig. 2 0 (3rd Stage): skull, section, x 45 diam. Fig. 3 N A hyoid arch, upper view, X 44 diam. Fig. 4. Pr (2nd Stage): nasal labyrinth, section, x 20 diam. Fig. 5 ne se section of quadrate and stapes, outer view, X 15 diam. Fig. 6 3 . stapes, Inner view, X 224 diam. Fig. 7 a ib section of cervical vertebree, * 24 diam. PLATE IX. Fig. 1. The same (lst Stage): shoulder-girdle and sternum, lower view, X 6 diam. Big2: ss ss part of shoulder-girdle and sternum, upper view, x Y diam. Fig. 3. i 43 furcula, lower view, X 9 diam. Fig. 4. 5 es pelvis, lower view, x 6 diam. Fig. 5. Fe ¥ pelvis, upper view, x 6 diam. Fig. 6 55 (5rd Stage): part of pelvis, lower view, x 74 diam. PLATE X. Fig. 1. The same (Ist Stage): manus, outer view, X 9 diam. Fig. 2 ss om part of manus, inner view, X 9 diam. Fig. 3 ie re part of Fig. 2, x 27 diam. Fig. 4. 4 (2nd Stage): part of pollex, outer view, x 12 diam. Fig. 5 ee ee second to fourth digits (part), xX 12 diam. Fig. 6 i (Srd Stage): manus, outer view, x 6 diam. Fig. 7 BS A part of same object, inner view, x 6 diam. Fig. 8. A (Adult): manus, outer view, x 1) diam. Fig. 9 Fe 5 manus, inner view, X 13 diam. Joes, OE ay (1st Stage): ankle-joint, front view, x 12 diam. Bien ies (3rd Stage): ankle-joint, front view, x 6 diam. (This memoir was not set up in type until after the Author's decease, which took place July 3rd, 1890, nor had the Plates been lettered at that date. It has conse- quently been a difficult task to correct the proofs, and I have to thank Mr. W. N. Parker and Mr. F. E. Beddard for very material assistance in this matter.—P. L. 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