PASSEEES .175 



on each side to the maxillo-palatines. These are the septo- 

 maxillaries of PARKER, and appear 10 remain perfectly dis- 

 tinct in Corvus comix, but not in Corvusfrugilegus. There 

 are no basipterygoid processes ; the pterygoids have a long 

 foot-like attachment (as long as the free part of the bone) 

 not only to the palatines, but to the interorbital septum also. 

 The nares are holorhinal and pervious. In Corvus comix 

 the lacrymals reach the jugal bar ; there is practically no 

 orbital portion, the descending limb being closely attached 

 to, but not fused with, the broad and thick ectethmoid. The 

 mandibular rami have a large oval perforation near to the 

 articular surface. 



Among genera nearly related to the Corvidae are various 

 slight modifications of skull structure. In Maiutcodia, for 

 instance, the rostrum is broadly ossified and fused with the 

 co-ossified palatal plates of the maxillae. The nasal septum 

 is complete, and the conjoined ectethnioids and lacrymals 

 are enormously swollen. In Pt Honor hynchus violaceus the 

 ectethmoids and lacrymals are separate, though in contact ; 

 contrary to what is found in Core us, it is the latter and not 

 the former which border the orbit above. The palatal con- 

 ditions of Mcuincodia are repeated and emphasised in Gym- 

 norhina and Strepera. There is a firm union across the 

 middle line in front of the vomer, with which, indeed, the 

 anterior horns of the vomer are ossified in Strepera. In both 

 birds, moreover, the pterygoids are fused with the pala- 

 tines, and the nostrils are partly obliterated by bony growth. 



The ' desmognathism ' thus produced in the crows of 

 ' Notogsea ' is not limited to that family. In Pheiictic/is 

 and in Cracticus cassicus there is the same state of affairs. 

 Other features in which the passerine skull shows variations 

 are the maxillo-palatines, vomer, and pterygoids ; in Gracula 

 javanensis, for example, the pterygoid has a very limited area 

 of articulation with the palatine ; there is no expanded foot, 

 as in crows, &c. ; the maxillo-palatines are very long and 

 slender, actually reaching the inner plate of the palatines. 

 The vomer is narrow in the body, though the two anterior 

 ' cornua ' are thick. Trochalopteron is almost desmognathous 



