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Show 416 MR. A. H. GARROD ON THE ANATOMY OF COLIUS. [May 2, 1. Notes on the Anatomy of the Colies (Colius). By A. H. G A R R O D , M.A., F.Z.S., Prosector to the Society. [Received April 25, 1876.] About the systematic position of the Colies there has always been considerable uncertainty, partly on account of the peculiarities of their habits, and partly because their internal structure is but incompletely known. One of the examples of Colius castanonotus, sent to the Society by Mr. H. C. Tait, C.M.Z.S., having died just as it reached this country, I have had the opportunity of dissecting the bird, and of examining several of its special anatomical details. Dr. Murie* has, not long since, given us an excellent resume of the views entertained by different naturalists as to the systematic position of the Colies, few of which are based an any thing more than external form and habits. Burchell f placed them close to Corythaix; and he has been followed by many. Mr. Wallace %, from a study of their habits, refers them to the Parrot tribe. In his * Pterylography' Nitzsch § places Colius among his Amphi-bolae, together with Musophaga and Opisthocomus, mentioning nevertheless that the genus " has a very remarkable arrangement of the feathers, and can only be compared in this respect with Buceros." In his important memoir " O n the Classification of Birds," Prof. Huxley || places Colius among his Desmognathse, in the smaller group Coccygomorphse, the genus being the sole representative of one of its minor divisions. Prof. Huxley makes no special reference to the skull. Dr. Murie has given us valuable information on the osteology of the bird %; and I am able to confirm most of his observations. There is, however, one part of the skeleton (the palate) where my results differ considerably from those of m y predecessor ; and these it is necessary for m e to record. Dr. Murie tells us that the specimen at his disposal was somewhat injured; nevertheless, of the maxillo-palatine processes of the maxillary bones, he says that they intrude but a slight way beyond the palatal rods, and leave a wide middle space betwixt them, and that, " as respects the presence of a vomer, there is apparently a short one, tapering rather than abruptly truncate anteriorly, and not visibly cleft behind." Dr. Murie therefore removes Colius from among Prof. Huxley's Desmognathse, and consequently from the Coccygomorphse. In the preparation of the skull of m y specimen of Colius castano- * Ibis, 1872, p. 262. t Travels in South Africa, vol. i. p. 214 (footnote). t Annals & Mag. of Nat. Hist. 1856, p. 213. § Ray Society's English Translation, edited by Mr. Sclater, p. 107. || P. Z. S. 1867, p. 466. *[[ Loc. cit. p. 266, pl. x. |