36 



The Chairman also directed the attention of the Committee to a 

 remarkable deficiency observable in some of the groups of the Psit- 

 tacidce, viz. the absence of the osjurcatorium. This deficiency he had 

 observed in the osteology of the Psittacus mitratus, the Platycercus 

 eximius, and the Psittacula galgula; skeletons of the two last of which 

 species were exhibited. He observed that this extraordinary defi- 

 ciency evinced the approaching affinity of that group of birds to 

 the Rasores, one of the most conspicuous groups of which, the typi- 

 cal Struthionidce, exhibited a like deficiency, indicating a corre- 

 sponding failure in the powers of flight. 



