174 OSTEOLOGY OF THRUSHES, MIMING, AND WRENS. 



doubtless accounts for the absence of this bone in many of the skulls 

 herein noted. 



In Merula aurantia and Turdus mustelinus the lachrymal has the 

 form and articulation shown in the accompanying figure: 



Lachrymal region of Merula aurantia. 



Lachrymal region of Campylorhynchus affinis. 



Lachrymal region of Harporhynchus curvirostris. 



The lachrymal of Harporhynchus is also better described by the figure 

 than it could possibly be in words. In Mimus this little bone is tri- 

 angular in shape, as in some Wrens, but instead of being wedged iu be- 

 tween the pars plana and the nasal, as in those birds, it is attached solely 

 to the nasal. This is also the case with Galeoscoptes, and iu this respect 

 these two Mimince resemble Merula aurantia. 



Campylorhynchus affinis and Salpinctes obsoletus have a sharp-pointed 

 lachrymal, driven well home between the pars plana and nasal. A 

 most careful examination of Th yrom a nesfelix has failed to discover any 

 trace of the lachrymal whatever. Seen from below the greater size of 

 the pars plana in the Thrushes than in the Wrens or Mimince is very 

 apparent. Among the Miuiiiuv, Oaleoscoptes and Melanoptila most 

 nearly approach the Thrushes in the size of the pars plana, while be- 

 tween them and the Wrens come Harporhynchus and Mimus. The pre- 

 palatines are slightly wider in the Thrushes than in the Miminas or 

 Wrens, and the transpalatine process is usually blunter in the Thrushes 

 than in the other birds under consideration. 



