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Show 474 DR. MURIE ON FREGILUPUS VARIUS. [June 16, 13. On the Skeleton and Lineage of Fregilupus varius. By Dr. JAMES MURIE, F.L.S. [Received June 16, 1874.] (Plates LXI. & LXII.) HISTORY OF THE BIRD. Preliminary Remarks.-By the zeal for ornithology and the urbanity of Prof. Newton, I a m stimulated to render a more ample account of the skeleton of Fregilupus belonging to him, and briefly commented on by m e in the 'Ibis' of 1873*. As therein mentioned, there is no representative of the type, in skin or otherwise, in England of this singular so-called Madagascar form, save the skeleton in question. The literature of its anatomy is confined to m y own curt osteological remarks. I now figure the mounted skeleton, of natural size, and in addition, in a second Plate, such characteristic sketches of the separated bones as m a y better enable comparisons to be instituted. This speci.nen (as I a m informed), was given to Prof. Newton by the late M . Jules Verreaux, who said that he shot the bird from which it was preserved in the island of Reunion many years since (1832?). The species is now to all appearance extinct, and, notwithstanding what has been said of it, seems to have been confined to that one island. The fact is that, if Fregilupus is not quite extinct, it evidently is fast becoming so; for recent writers aver it is no longer to be obtained in its old haunts, and somewhere about twenty years have elapsed since any thing positive concerning its existence has been authenticated-)-. Thus I a m the more impressed with the necessity for a published record accompanied by osteological illustration. If, as is to be feared, before long it shall be looked upon as a bird of the past-gone like the Dodo, Solitaire, Aphanapteryx, &c.-then it would be a pity to let the present opportunity slip. Moreover this skeleton and another said to have been deposited in the Paris Museum, having both been procured by an ornithologist of reputation and prepared by his own hands, have a stamp of certainty about them enhancing their value. This extreme paucity of material, and possibility of no future supply, m a y yet render them invaluable historical examples, marking the progress of avian extinction in the Mascarene Islands. Original observations pertaining to the bird are few and not very satisfactory in substance. Indeed I find nearly all the travellers' accounts to be but a repetition of the earlier imperfect notices, these same being looked upon rather suspiciously by those best qualified to estimate their worth. For the sake of bringing within easy compass the known history of Fregilupus, I insert in * " On the Upupidce," torn. cit. p. 200. t Vide footnote from Schlegel, p. 479. |