Vol. x\.i e^yii-,-pF.i.r>r,Oxteo/o(;yofOrf}inyhanif^hii>:>nii£:)nrostyis. 23 



sake of present convenience — in other words, i)rovisionally, until 

 we know far more about the eulirc iiioypliology of these birds than 

 we do at the present time. 



What has l)ecn brought out in the present pa])er finds its 

 greatest interest in the added support it brings to what Huxley 

 long ago pointed out — that is, the more or less near relationship 

 of the great Plover-Snipe grouj) of birds to the Longipennes and 

 some of their congeners. 



These Gidicnemidcc, in fact, in so far as their osteology goes, 

 l)eautifully bridge across one of the gai)s here, for we find both 

 jiluvialine and larine characters intimately blended all through 

 the skeleton of Orthorhamphiis magnirostris, and this is doubtless 

 true of all the other typical " Stone-Plovers." Some of these 

 osteological characters are typically those of a Plover, while others 

 are equally so of a Gull. For example, were the skeleton of a 

 fossil adult Orthorhamphtts magnirostris, embedded in its matrix, 

 handed to me, and I found only the posterior ])ortion of the skull 

 and mandible exposed, I would, upon viewing that, without the 

 slightest hesitation, pronounce it as belonging to some typical 

 representative of the genus Lams, and so on for other special 

 regions of the skeleton of this group-linking species of bird. 



Explanation of Plates. 

 Plate I. (f nat. size). 

 (All the figures in the Plates II. -VII. are reproductions of photo- 

 graphs made direct from the specimens by the author.) 



T^eft lateral view of the head of an adult rj specimen of Orthorhamphus 

 magnirostris. (No. 201,677, Coll. U.S. Nat. Mus.) By the 

 author. Collected by Dr. Edgar A. Mearns, U.S. Army, on 

 Loran Island, off South Ubian Island, P.I., 12th October, 

 1006. Shot bv General Leonard Wood, U.S. Army. 



Pi.ATi' IT. rf nat, size). 



Fig. I. — Left lateral view of tlic cranium and mandible (disassociated) 

 of OrtJiorJiamphits magnirostris. Adult ^ (No. 19,640, Coll. LT.S. 

 Nat. Mus. 



Fig. 2. — Left lateral view of the hyoid arches and the superior larynx 

 and trachea {in situ :. Same individual which furnished the 

 skull for Fig. i. 



Plate III. (| nat. size). 



(All the figures in this Plate are of bones from the same skeleton as 



Plate I. (No. 19,649, Coll. U.S. Nat. Mus.)) 

 Fig. 3. — Direct externo-lateral view of the circlet of sclerotal plates 



from the left eye 

 Fig. 4. — Left lateral view of the leading eight (cS) cervical vertebrae 



of the spinal column ; these are continuous with the 



vertebrae shown in Plate TIL, fig. 8, and Plate IV., figs. 9 



and 10. 



