112 SnvFBLDT:, Material for a Study of the Megapodiida:. [.^^ ou 



In his famous paper, " On the Osteology of Galhnaceous Birds 

 and Tinamous," Professor William Kitchen Parker dwells to 

 some extent upon the skeleton of Talegalla [Catheturiis] lathami, 

 comparing the skeleton of that species of Brush-Turkey with other 

 Gallinaceous birds (pp. 160-167). That appeared in 1862 ; while 

 nearly twenty years later Oustalet published his accounts of the 

 osteology of Megacephalon nialeo and Megapodiiis diiperreyi* 



Talegallus [Catheturiis] lathami, osteologically. is the best- 

 represented Megapode in the collection of the Royal College of 

 Surgeons, where they have two skeletons from the Gould collec- 

 tion and the sternum of a male with the shoulder-girdle {loc. cit., 

 p. 412). Very likely there are skeletons of Megapodes in the 

 several Australian museums, though I have no personal knowledge 

 of this. 



There are two skeletons of the Megapodiidcv in the collections 

 of the United States National Museum, and they are catalogued 

 as being those of Megapodius nicobariensis. When I made 

 application for them only one of them could be located, and that 

 one will form the subject of this part of the present paper (No. 

 19,700). 



If there has ever been a detailed account published of the 

 skeleton of the Nicobar Megapode I have never seen or heard of 

 it ; while, as cited above, Megacephalum, Talegallus, and M. 

 tumulus have all received some attention in that respect. 



The Skull (Plate XL, fig. 23 ; Plate XII., fig. 26). —As we would 

 naturally expect to find it, the skull of this Megapode is, in its 

 general character, distinctly Gallinaceous. There are, however, 

 some very interesting departures from the typical Galhne skull, 

 and these will be noted as this part of the skeleton is described. 



When viewed from above, it is to be noted that the entire 

 surface, forwards and backwards, is very smooth and devoid of 

 all furrows, elevations, and the like. To be sure, there is a median 

 occipito-parietal elevation above the foramen magnum, but it 

 attracts but little attention, owing to its gradual mergence on all 

 sides with the smooth surface of the vault of the cranium. There, 

 is also a general depression or shallow concavity over the region 

 of the cranio-facial hinge ; but beyond this the superior surface 

 of the skull is quite lacking in any prominent characters. It is 

 quite flat in the frontal region between the orbits, and the superior 

 peripheries of the latter are unbroken and rather sharp-edged. 

 These latter are formed entirely by the frontal bones, which, 

 upon either side, are carried well forward in the close articulation 

 with the nasal bone. At the juncture of the two there articulates 

 a very small flake-like lacrymal. 



At the postero-mesial aspect of the cranio-facial concavity it 



j)p. 412, 413. This very useful volume is a scarce one, apparently, in the 

 Anicrican liljiaries, and does not seem to have been sufficiently appreciated 

 by our comparative ornithotomists. 



■* " Bibl. Haut. Etudes," xxii., Art. 2, 1881, pi. 1.. ii. (M. iiuilco), and 

 pi. iii. (Megapodius duperreyi). [A/, duperreyi = M. tuiiiiitits.] 



