OCR Text |
Show 778 MR. W. A. FORBES O N T H E [June 21, NONNULA CINERACEA, sp. nov. Supra cineracea, dorso alis extus et cauda obscurioribus ; loris et ciliis oculorum albis : subtus pallide fulva, ventre crissoque alBis subalaribus et remigum marginibus internis pallide cinnamomeisr; rostro obscure plumbeo, ad basin flavicante ; pedibus plumbeis. long tota 5*0, ala 2*6, cauda 2*1, rostro a rictu 1*0. Hab. Amazonia superior. Mus. Brit. Obs. Species N. rubecula proxima, sed colore dorsi cineraceo et pectoris valde dilutiore distinguenda. The single specimen of this species is in the British Museum, where it is marked Nonnula frontalis in the handwriting of the late Mr. G. R. Gray. I do not, however, think that it can in any case he referred to that species. The skin in question was received from Mr. Bates through Mr. S. Stevens in 1853, and, as Mr. Bates kindly informs me, was one of a series obtained by him at Ega from a French collector who had been up the Rio Javari. It is labelled " iris chatain, bee bleu." M y specimen of Brachygalba alBigularis (see Mon. Galb. et Bucc. p. 45) was procured by the same collector ; and examples of Bucco collaris and Malacoptila rufa in Brit. Mus. are from the same source. 7. O n the Conformation of the Thoracic E n d of the Trachea in the "Ratite" Birds. By W . A. F O R B E S , B.A., F.L.S., Prosector to the Society. [Eeceived June 21,1881.] In the present communication I propose to follow out the line of work developed by the late Prof. Garrod in his paper on the trachea of the Gallinae \ by describing in detail the structure of the bifurcating trachea in the " Ratite " birds. So far as I am aware, no proper description of this structure in the birds in question has ever been given, though the statement, apparently originally due to Meckel2, that in them " there is no lower larynx," has been very generally followed and copied, even in the latest text-books on the subject3. Prof. Owen has briefly described the bifurcating trachea in the Ostrich 4 and Apteryx 5; and his accounts, as far as they go, are accurate enough. More recently E. Alix has very briefly mentioned some peculiarities of this part in the Rhea; and his account will be found quoted below. 1 " On the Conformation of the Thoracic Extremity of the Trachea in the Class Aves. Part I. The Gallina?," P. Z. S. 1879, pp. 354-380. 2 ' Trait6 general d'Anatomie comparee,'x. p. 571, 1838. 3 Cf. Huxley's 'Anatomy of Vertebrates,' p. 313; Macalister, 'Morphology of Vertebrates,' p. 161. 4 ' Catalogue of the Physiological Series of the Museum of the Koyal College of Surgeons,' ii. p. 103, prep. 1159 (1834). 5 Trans. Zool. Soc. ii. p. 279. |