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Show 1876.] ON THE ANATOMY OF ARAMUS SCOLOPACETJS. 275 1. On the Anatomy of Aramus scolopaceus. By A. H . G A R R O D , M.A., F.Z.S., Prosector to the Society. [Received February 7, 1876.] It being very seldom that an opportunity occurs for the study of the anatomy of Aramus, a form the exact relations of which are but little understood, I take the opportunity of describing this bird from a female specimen which reached the Society's Gardens alive, and died, much emaciated, within a few days, on Oct. 7, 1875. I may mention that the generic name Scolopax was applied to it by Linnaeus, and that Lichtenstein termed it Ballus gigas. Mr. G. R. Gray * places it among the Rallinae, next to Ballus aquaticus, whilst Messrs. Sclater and Salvinf include it among the Alectorides, together with Eurypyga, Cariama, and Psophia. It seems to me, however, that, considering its different anatomical features, it is most intimately related to Grus, which, with it, is not distant from Ibis, Platalea, and Eurypyga. With reference to the skeleton of Aramus, it may be mentioned that it is figured -as a whole in Eyton's * Osteologia Avium ' (pl. xiv. K), and in the same valuable work (pl. 27. fig. 2) a front view of the sternum, and a back view of the pelvis are given, though the plate is incorrectly lettered. In Audubon's 'Ornithological Biography'*}: a full account of the vjscera is given, with a woodcut of the alimentary canal. The author considers the bird to be most intimately allied to the Rails. Aramus is a strongly schizorhinal bird§; in other words, the openings of the external osseous nares extend further backwards than the posterior ends of the nasal processes of the praemaxillae. In this respect it agrees with Grus, Eurypyga, and the Limicolae, but not with the Rallidae, nor with Cariama, nor with Psophia. As in Grus, Ibis, and Platalea, the lachrymal bones do not blend with the region of the skull where they are attached; in the true Limicolae they do so. The palate is schizognathous, the maxillo-palatines long, the vomer pointed, and the pterygoids out-spreading at both ends exactly as in Grus. As in that genus, also, there is a pair of occipital foramina, like those in Ibis, Platalea, and the Limicolae ; but these do not occur in the Rallidae, nor in Cariama, nor in Psophia. (Figs. 1, 2, and 3, p. 276, illustrate these points.) The sternum is completely Gruine, as are the other parts of its skeleton. The pterylosis of Aramus has been fully investigated by Nitzsch ||, who found that it agrees exactly with that of Psophia and Grus, and with no other bird. The peculiarities of the feathers themselves led that illustrious naturalist to place it with the Rails, from which it differs in more than one pterylographic particular. * Hand-list of Birds, vol. iii. p. 58. '" Nomenclator Avium Neotropicalium, p. 141. :: Vol. iv. p. 547 et seq. § Vide P. Z. S. 1873, p. 33. Rav Societv's English Translation, p. 125. • 18* |