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Show 442 ON THE ANATOMY OF PODICA SENEGALENSIS. [June 3, into these fossae. Perhaps also the comparatively great length of basis cranii is associated with this muscular development. If you smooth down the skull of a Grebe and pare away the strongly developed ridges, the result is not very unlike the skull of a Rail. There are not any other really marked differences between the skulls. Fiirbringer [4, p. 1029 et seq.) lays no weight upon the systematic value of these characters; he does not refer to them in his digest of the important cranial characters. With regard to the other characters which the skeleton exhibits, it is true that no resemblance is shown to the Divers and Grebes. On the other hand, its resemblance to the Rails which has been so insisted upon by Giebel is in m y opinion less striking than its differences from the same group of birds. Turning to the muscular anatomy, we have a mixture of Colymbine and Ralline characters with a decided element that is peculiar to the Heliornithidce. On the whole, if it were necessary to associate Podica definitely with either of the two groups to which it shows affinity, I should feel obliged to regard it as belonging to the Colymbidae. Taking everything into consideration, it seems that the Heliornithidce form a distinct family which has traversed for a certain distance the branch leading from the Rails to the Colymbidae and has then diverged rather widely in a direction of its own. LIST OF MEMOIRS. 1. G A R R O D , A. H . - O n the Anatomy of Chauna derbiana and on the Systematic Position of the Screamers (Palamedeidae). Proc. Zool. Soc. 1870, p. 189 et seq. 2. GARROD, A. H . - O n Certain Muscles of the Thigh of Birds, and on their Value in Classification.-Part II. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1874, p. Ill et seq. 3. GARROD, A. H.-]NTotes on the Anatomy of Plotus anhinga. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1870, p. 335 et seq. 4. FrjRBRiNGER.-Untersuchuugen zur Morphologic und Syste-matik der Vogel. Amsterdam, 1888. 5. G A D O W , H.-Aves, in Bronn's ' Thierreichs.' 6. GIEBEL, C.-Zur Naturgeschichte des surinainischen Wasser-huhns, Podoa surinamensis. Zeitschr. ges. Xaturw. Bd. xviii. (1861) pp. 424-437. 7. BRANDT, J. F.-Beitrage zur Kenntniss der JNaturgeschicte der Vbgel etc. Mem. Ac. Sci. St. Petersbourg, 6e ser. t. iii. 1840, pp. 81-239. 8. SCHLEGEL. H.-Museum d'histoirc naturelle des Pays-Bas, t. vi. 9. SCLATER, P. L.-Remarks on the Fifth Cubital Remex of the Wing in the Carinata.. Ibis, 1890, p. 77. 10. W R A Y , R. S.-On some Points in the Morphology of the Wings of Birds. P. Z. S. 1887, p. 343. 11. PARKER, W . K . - A Monograph on the Structure and Development of the Shoulder-girdle and Sternum in the Vertebrata. Ray Society, 1868. |