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Show 1888.] ANATOMY OF BAL.EN1CEFS REX. 289 In a postscript added to his paper Prof. Parker again dwells upon the Ardeine affinities of Balceniceps, quoting the discovery of powder-down patches by Mr. Bartlett. Prof. Reinhardt\ while admitting that Balceniceps comes nearer to Cancroma than to the Pelicans (to which group it was referred by Mr. Gould), is disposed to think that the resemblances in the beak to the former bird are merely superficial, and that as the middle claw is not pectinated Balceniceps cannot be referred to the Herons. Prof. Reinhardt would associate Balceniceps particularly with Scopus. ..Vfter reviewing the general structural characters of the birds in question, I cannot agree with Prof. Reinhardt's conclusion any more than could Mr. Bartlett. Balceniceps agrees with Scopus in many osteological characters, through apparently not more closely than it agrees with Cancroma &c. The syrinx also is somewhat like that of Scopus, but differs in certain particulars, such as the absence of the syringeal muscles. The syrinx of Balceniceps, however, agrees equally with other Ardeidae in all these particulars. Balceniceps differs from Scopus in having powder-down patches, and only one caecum to the intestine. The differences seem to me to be more striking than the resemblances. I should regard Balceniceps, in fact, as a rather aberrant Heron, having no near affinities to the Storks nor to Scopus. The following diagram expresses the conclusion with respect to the mutual affinities of the Herodiones to which our present knowledge of the structure of the group appears to me to point:- Fig. 4. Abdimia. Balceniceps. Ardeidae Ciconia. Diagram of the Herodiones. Scopus, which combines in so many ways the structural characteristics of Herons and Storks, probably comes near to the ancestral form of both groups. 1 " O n the Affinities of Balceniceps;' P. Z. S. 1860, p. 377. |
