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Show 1891.] ON THE ANATOMY OF THE KAGU. 9 3. Contributions to the Anatomy of the Kagu (Rhinochetus jubatus). By F R A N K E. BEDDARD, M.A., Prosector to the Society. [Received January 6, 1891.] The structure of the Kagu, so far as it is at present known, has shown it to be a bird which stands in a central position with respect to several groups. It cannot be included in any of the existing families without doing violence to some one of its structural characteristics. All that is known of the anatomy of this bird refers to external features, to the skeleton, to the viscera, and to a few of its muscles; and opinions as to its affinities, based more or less upon these characters, are varied. There can be no doubt, however, that it stands somewhere in the Ardeogralline group. With a view to assist in the more accurate placing of Rhinochetus, I offer here an account of some of the principal muscles which I have dissected in a specimen that died in the Society's Gardens a a few years since. The Kagu was described so recently as 1860 by M M . Des Murs and Verreaux [1] ; but the first account of its anatomy is contained in a short paper by Prof. Parker [6] on certain points in the Osteology, expanded later [7] into an elaborate description of the entire skeleton. After the publication of these two papers, Dr. Murie contributed to the ' Transactions' of this Society a valuable account [8] of the external characters and of the alimentary viscera, comparing the bird in all these matters with Eurypyga and with the Boatbill (Cancroma). More recently Prof. Garrod has remarked upon the carotids and upon the muscles of the thigh [19]. The disposition of the intestinal coils has been described by Dr. Gadow [16], while Mr. Seebohm [9] has directed attention to a few points in the osteology. I am not acquainted with any other papers that deal with the structure of Rhinochetus. The following is a list of the papers which I have consulted in putting together the present notes :- (1) DES MURS and J.VERREAUX.-Revue et Mag. de Zool. t. xiii. (I860) p. 441. (2) POTJGET.-Note sur le Kagou. Bull. Societ. Acclim. (3) t. ii. p. 162.x (3) B A R T L E T T , A. D.-Note on the Habits and Affinities of the Kagu (Rhinochetus jubatus). P. Z. S. 1862, p. 218. 1 In this paper the author illustrates, by some good woodcuts, the attitudes of the bird-particularly the elevation of the crest, which I have myself frequently observed at the Gardens. H e also points out that the name was written by the describers " Rhynochetos" and that therefore, in his opinion, their spelling should be used. |