OCR Text |
Show 592 MR. F. E. BEDDARD ON THE [Dec. 3, agreement with Bucorvus in the fleshy insertion of the adductor longus on to the lower border of the femur. The accessory semitendinosus is distinctly double as in Aceros and is attached by a short tendon to the adductor, though the direction of this tendon is somewhat different to what is found in Aceros. The patagial muscles of Bucorvus (fig. 4) are particularly interesting; as in other Hornbills, the tendon of each just at its commencement is reinforced by a tendinous slip derived from the pectoralis primus; in Bucorvus there is in addition a tendinous slip from the biceps. Fig. 4. Patagial muscles of Bucorvus abyssinicus. H, Humerus; Bi, Biceps; t.p, b.r, tendon of tensor patagii brevis ; a', tendinous slip to pectoralis primus; Bs, junction of this with a tendinous slip to biceps; a, tendinous slip which unites tendon of tensor patagii longus with pectoralis. The fact that this slip is attached not to the tensor longus but tensor brevis does not in m y opinion invalidate its homology with the so-called " biceps slip " of other birds. Bucorvus is moreover not the only " Anomalogonatous " bird with a biceps slip; these structures I have found in Colius as a well-developed fleshy muscle united to the tendon of the tensor longus ; but its description by Prof. Fiirbringer** has anticipated the novelty of the present remarks. 1 Untersuchungen zur Morph. u. System, der Vogel, &c. vol. i. p. 529. |