Prof. Reinhardt's Remarks on the Genus Balseniceps. 167 



veloped than in the Parrots; but it is situated much further 

 back than in them, since, on account of the peculiar position 

 of the lachrymal bone, it is placed above the anterior portion of 

 the orbit, and not, as usual, in front of it. Neither in Scopus 

 nor in Cancroma is there such a hinge ; but its exemplification is 

 found both in Leptoptilus and Tantalus, which have a deepish 

 cross-suture increasing the mobility of the bill, while the author 

 has not found the least trace of such a peculiarity in the Herons. 

 So far then this hin2;e is a less aberrant character in Bala- 

 niceps, if the bird be considered as most nearly allied to the 

 Storks, than if it be made a Heron-like form connected with 

 Cancro7na. 



Mr. Parker has justly urged the forward position of the 

 lachrymal bone as a peculiarity of the cranium in Balaniceps ; 

 however, as already remarked, the bird does not stand alone in 

 this respect, for in the Owls that bone is situated in front of 

 the supra-maxillary hinge. What, however, ought to be insisted 

 on, and what Mr. Parker, who only compared Balaniceps with 

 one Stork (the Adjutant), has not remarked, is that the very 

 position of the lachrymal bone refers the bird to the Storks more 

 than to the Herons. For, in Scopus, the same bone is already 

 advanced, so that its anterior extremity reaches a little in front of 

 the cross-line, by which the pliability of the bill is effected, though 

 in this bird it is not marked out by any suture in the bone ; 

 while in Anastomus the lachrymal bone reaches fully three- 

 fourths of its length in front of the line in question, so that in 

 this respect there is but a short step from it to Balceniceps. 



The case is the same with another character in the cranium of 

 Balceniceps insisted on by Mr. Parker — the small boss or knot 

 formed by the ridge of the bill a little behind the nostrils. In 

 Cancroma and the Herons it is certain that no trace of it can be 

 found, and the base of the bill has here quite a different form. 

 But, on the other hand, one has only to hold the cranium of 

 Scopus alongside that of Balaniceps to perceive at once that it 

 is the same type which prevails in this part of the skulls of both ; 

 and there will be found a still greater likeness shown by Bala- 

 niceps in this and other particular points to another frequently 

 mentioned Stork, namely Anastomus. 



