| OCR Text |
Show 1876.] OF PASSERINE BIRDS. 517 Passeres Oligomyodi. With a femoral artery. With a sciatic artery. Chiroxiphia linearis, Mionectes oleagineus, Chiromacharis vitellina, Tyranniscus vilissimus, Heteropelma verapacis, Pitangus sulphuratus, Tityra personata, Myiodynastes luteiventris, Hadrostomus aglaia, Empidonax minimus, Lipaugus sp., Myiarchus crinitus, Cotinga cincta, Tyrannus melancholicus, Chasntorhynchus nudicollis. Bupicola crocea, Pitta angolensis, Pitta cyanura. I must mention also that in a specimen of the minute Mitre-phorus phaocercus, it appeared to me that the artery of the leg was the femoral; but I. should like to see more specimens before I can feel justified in disturbing any generalizations by using this single example. All Acromyodian Passeres of species which I have examined, over one hundred in number, possess the sciatic artery, including Menura and Atrichia; and the Tracheophonae quite agree with them in this respect. Such being the case, it seems to m e that from among the Mesomyodian Passeres a small section may be divided off, including the families Pipridee and Cotingidae, in which a characterizing feature is the development of a femoral in place of a sciatic artery; and this being the case, Bupicola must be removed from the Cotingidae. Although, as yet, our knowledge of the anatomical characters which are the bases of the minor divisions of the Passerine group is still so little advanced, nevertheless a rough sketch of the classification of the order, in which no attempt to fill-in details can be made, is quite within our power. To commence with Midler's character depending on the situation of the insertions of the syringeal muscles, Passerine birds fall primarily into two main sections, the A C R O M Y O D I , in which the intrinsic muscles of the voice-organ are fixed to the end of the bronchial semirings, and the M E S O M Y O D I , in which they join them at or near their middle. The former group includes all the true Oscines, together with Menura and Atrichia ; the latter the Tracheophonae, together with those Passeres included by Miiller with the Picariae, as well as Pitta. The Mesomyodi fall into two groups, according to the situation of the main artery of the leg. Those in which the sciatic is the artery of the thigh may, because they therein agree with other birds, be termed Homceomeri ; those in which the femoral artery is developed, from being in this respect abnormal, may be termed Heteromeri. Of the Homceomeri the Tracheophonae of Miiller form a special well-marked section,-the rest, including the Tyrannidse, Bupicola, Pitta, forming a division which may be termed Haploophonae until there is reason for further splitting them up. |
