OCR Text |
Show 630 MR. A. H. GARROD ON [Julie 1 7, femoro-caudal, the accessory femoro-caudal, the semitendinosus, and the accessory semitendinosus) vary ; any one or more than one may be absent in different birds; and in m y dissections m y object has always been to record the conditions existing in the specimen under examination. The constancy of the peculiarities in the different individuals of each species, in the species of each genus, and very generally in the genera of each family, makes it evident to any one working at the subject, that much respecting the affinities of the different families of birds is to be learnt from the study of their myology, in connexion with the peculiarities of their other soft parts ; and that these features will, in the long run, lead to a more correct classification than one based on the skeleton alone, becomes almost equally certain. The variations in the five above-mentioned muscles form the subject of this communication, and the subjoined list contains the results arrived at by myself. A few of the facts now recorded will be found mentioned in the works of Meckel, Sundevall, and others. Reference to them is quite unnecessary, as they can be easily found in the works of those authors. The Passeres possess the femoro-caudal, the semitendinosus, and the postacetabular portion of the tensor fasciae; the accessory semitendinosus is present in all except Dicrurus (which has only ten rectrices) ; the ambiens and the accessory femoro-caudal are absent*. The Pici possess the femoro-caudal, the semitendinosus, and the postacetabular portion of the tensor fasciae ; the ambiens and the accessory femoro-caudal are absent ; and they may be divided into two subfamilies, according to whether the accessory semitendinosus is present or absent. The accessory semitendinosus is absent in Picus major. Pico'ides tridactylus. minor. The accessory semitendinosus is present in Gecinus viridis. Chloronerpes yucatanensis. Leuconerpes candidus. Mulleripicus fulvus. Melanerpes formicivorus. Hypoxanthus rivolii. Yunx torquilla agrees in all these points with Gecinus viridis. The Steatornithidae possess the semitendinosus, and a very narrow accessory semitendinosus. The ambiens, the femoro-caudal, the accessory femoro-caudal, and the postacetabular portion of the tensor fasciae are absent. Species examined. Steatornis caripensis. The Caprimulgidae possess the femoro-caudal, the semitendinosus, * In m y paper on the carotid arteries of birds a long list is given of the Passeres in which the carotid vessels were examined; in all these the muscles of the thigh were dissected also. In a specimen of' Pomaf ostomies temporalis there was an accessory femoro-caudal on the right side; on the left there was not a trace of it. |