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Show 434 DR. G. HARTLAUB ON ANARHYNCHUS FRONTALIS. [June 24, and Numenius, had very probably never autoptically examined the old specimen of the 'Astrolabe' voyage. W e must add that in a very complete and critical essay on a paper of Mr. Buller, on the avifauna of New Zealand, by our friend Dr. O. Finsch, the Anarhynchus is not even mentioned. So this interesting bird remained obscure and almost forgotten till a few weeks ago, when, in a large collection of New-Zealand birds sent by the well known naturalist Dr. Julius Haast to the Bremen Museum, we were most agreeably surprised by the discovery of two fine specimens, adult male and female, of Anarhynchus frontalis. The label of these specimens bore the inscription, "Hiaticula, sp., crooked bill constant." W e regret to say that we do not know in what particular portion of New Zealand these birds were collected. One of them, the male, is now deposited in the Bremen Museum ; the other will find its way into the splendid collection of Marquis Turati at Milan. The generic position of Anarhynchus was very judiciously determined by its first discoverers, and was afterwards adopted by Mr. G. R. Gray. It most certainly belongs to the Charadriadee. The form of the bill, though quite extraordinary, and by its abrupt lateral bend quite unique in the ornithological series, offers, nevertheless, a very distinct likeness to that of Strepsilas. But in the entire absence of a hind toe, as well as in the style of the colouring, it is more like an Hiaticula. The feet are somewhat larger than in this latter division ; but the proportional arrangement of the toes is the same, the inner being a little shorter than the outer. Still the formation of the feet is somewhat different from that of all other Charadriadee; for the lateral toes are united to the middle one at the base by a membrane, which occupies the first phalanx, and which is laterally continued over the other phalanges in the form of a narrow band or rim. When M M . Quoy and Gaimard point at the generic similarity to Calidris, we must not overlook that in this latter genus the inner and outer toe are of equal length, and without any membranaceous connexion with the middle one. The only affinity to Thinornis consists in the comparative length of the beak, that part being much shorter in the true Plovers; the feet are totally different. In all Charadriinee, without exception, the first quill is more or less the longest. ANARHYNCHUS, Q. et G. Char. gen.-Rostrum elongatum, gracile, subcompressum, apicem versus attenuatum, acutum, tertia parte apicali nonnihil sursum et distinctissime dextrorsum flexum, basi ad nares usque plumulis brevissimis ob tectum ; naribus linearibus, in fossa longitudinali elongata positis. Alae elongates, caudce apicem superantes, acuminates, rigidee, remige primo omnium longissimo, reliquis sensim brevioribus; secundariis longis, acutis, mollibus. Cauda mediocris, rotundata, e rectricibus duodecim composite. Pedes satis robusti, mediocres ; pollex nullus ; digiti membrana basalt (per latera pkalanyum conspicue later aliter elongata) |