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Show 1875.] MR. G. S. BRADY ON BRITISH MARINE MITES. 301 ment, where the rings which encircle them are not complete, a membrane taking their place in that portion of each tube which is contiguous to its opposite neighbour. Each bronchus, lower down, is composed of complete cartilaginous rings (vide fig. 2, p. 300). By many ornithologists Tantalus is arranged along with Platalea and Ibis, instead of with the Storks. Nitzsch, in his ' Pterylography,' places it with Ciconia in his group P E L A R G I , separating off Platalea and Ibis to form the H E M I G L O T T I D E S . In the " Revised List" of the Animals in the Society's Gardens, Mr. Sclater adopts the same arrangement. In my paper " O n the Nasal Bones of Birds" *, it is mentioned that Platalea and Ibis are schizorhinal- that is, have the external osseous nares split up in a manner there described, in which point they differ from the rest of Prof. Huxley's Pelargomorphse, and therefore from Tantalus. There are many other structural peculiarities which make it perfectly certain that Tantalus is a member of the Ciconiidae, and not an aberrant one either. Some of the most important it will not be out of place to mention here. They will be most easily appreciated in a tabular form, as thus represented : - In Ibis and Platalea. In Ciconia and Tantalus. The skull is schizorhinal. The skull is holorhinal. The angle of the mandible is The angle of the mandible is produced and recurved. truncated. The pectoralis major muscle is The pectoralis major muscle is simple, not being separable into in two layers, a superficial and a distinct layers. deep, easily separable one from the other. The accessory femoro-caudal The accessory femoro-caudal muscle is well developed. muscle is absent. The semitendinosus muscle is The semitendinosus muscle is muscular throughout. tendinous for its distal half. A small muscular belly is sent No slip leaves the biceps cubiti from the biceps cubiti to the muscle to join the tensor patagii tendon of the tensor patagii longus. longus muscle. 4. A Review of the British Marine Mites, with Descriptions of some new Species. By GEORGE STEWARDSON BRADY, C.M.Z.S. [Received March 16, 1875.] (Plates XLI. & XLII.) The marine Mites hitherto described either by British or foreign authors are very few in number; and the descriptions seem for the most part to have been based on the observation of but few individuals, often only one or two for each species. The animals have * P. Z. S. 1873, p. 33. |
