27 



Suborder TROCHILI. 



(By OSBERT SALVIN.) 



Skeleton*. — Maxilla and mandible long and slender; anteorbital 

 very large and blended with the lachrymal, which probably forms 

 but a small portion of it f ; interorbital septum and anterior wall 

 of the brain-case slightly ossified ; deutary process of premaxilla 

 and the maxilla form a free rod beneath the lateral margin of the 

 premaxilla on either side, secured only at its extremities. Maxillo- 

 palatines a flat horizontal lamina widely separated in the median 

 line. Vomer deeply cleft behind, with a somewhat rounded ante- 

 rior margin, from the middle of which a long, straight, slender spine 

 proceeds. Palatines widely separated in the middle line, diverging 

 posteriorly ; outer margins nearly straight, long, and slender ante- 

 riorl}', and, after coalescing with themaxiUa, pass into a pointed free 

 end. Rostrum of basisphenoid very broad; no pterygoid processes. 

 Pterygoids straight subcylindrical rods. Quadrate nearly horizontal ; 

 mastoidal and mandibular ends each with two transverse facets ; a 

 " peg "-like process receives the hollowed end of the pterygoid ; the 

 orbital process much reduced ; angle of the mandible truncated ; 

 ends of the hyoidean apparatus embrace the back of the skull and, 

 meeting on the top, extend forward side by side along the middle 

 line, grooves in the cranium receiving them when they lie in contact 

 with it. Spinal column with 32 vertebra and a pygostyle, the last 

 two dorsals anchylosed to the pelvic sacrum. Sternum long, gradu- 

 ally widening towards the siphoidal end, which has an entire rounded 

 border ; manubrium absent ; carina very deep. Coracoid with a 

 tendinal canal closed with bone, and a large perforation in the shaft 

 below it ; sternal extremity not dilated. Hypocloidium of the very 

 broad U-shaped furculum rudimentary ; blade of scapula bent at an 

 obtuse angle outwards in the same plane as that of its chief surface. 

 Humerus short and broad, of peculiar shape, shorter than the ulna ; 

 radius much arched ; metacarpus considerably longer than the ulna ; 

 phalanges of the manus very long and peculiarly shaped ; four sesa- 

 moids — two in the carpus and two in the elbow. Large free patella ; 

 pro- and ectocnemial processes of the tibio-tarsus rudimentary ; 

 hypotarsus of metatarsus both pierced and grooved for tendons. 

 Hallux incumbent. Phalanges of pes normal (2-3-4-5). 



The tongue J of the Trocliili is very long, and can be thrust out 

 far beyond the end of the long bill. The anterior portion moves in 

 a sheath, and presents the appearance of two cylinders united, with 

 a deep groove above and another beneath, for part of their length, 



* Shufeldt, P. Z. S. 1885, p. 912. 



+ Shufeldt, Journ. Lixri. Soc, Zool. xx. p. 385. 



\ W. Macgillivray in Aud. B. Am. iv. p. 197. 



