CUCULI 



The following are some intestinal measurements, princi- 

 pally of the caeca : 



Cucnliis canorns . 

 Piaya cayana 

 Diploptcrus ncevius 

 S<iu rothcra dominiccnsis 

 Coccijzus americanits 

 Pyrrhoccntor cclebcnsis 

 Centropus ateralbus 



phasianus . 

 PJut'tiicophacs sp. 

 Geococcyx affinis . 

 Crotophaga sidcirostris 

 Guira piririgua . 

 Scythrops 

 Chrysococcyx 



S. ]. 



Inches 



16 



12 

 20 



As for the skull of the cuckoos, that of Scythrops has been 

 described by PARKER l and by myself. 2 SHUFELDT has 

 studied the skeleton of Geococcyx. 3 Scythrops is doubly des- 

 mognathous, the maxillo-palatines being united for their whole 

 lengths, and the palatines also being fused with each other 

 posteriorly. In other cuckoos the maxillo-palatines diverge 

 posteriorly for a short space, and there is no union between 

 the palatines. Scijtlirops has, according to PARKER, two 

 small vomers, situated one behind the other. 4 In cuckoos the 

 ectethmoid processes are large, and the lacrymal has often 

 (e.g. Scijtlirops, Crotophaga) a large descending process 

 nearly touching the jugal . Scijtlirops and Eudynamis have an 

 os uncinatum lying between the descending process of the 

 lacrymal and the ectethmoid. 



The holorhinal nostrils are much obliterated by bony 

 growths, the degree varying. As a consequence the nostrils 

 are as a rule impervious ; but in the dried skulls of Pyrrho- 

 centor and Cuculus there is a considerable foramen. 



No cuckoo has more than fourteen cervical rriii'brce, and 

 some have only thirteen. Three or four ribs only articulate 



Trans. Linn. Soc. (2), i. '- P. Z. S. Is'.is. 



7. Anat. Phys. xx. 1886, p. 244. 



I could only find one lying entirely between the palatines. 



