CHIONIS MINOR. 101 



about the middle of the mandible, this lamella is incomplete, leaving a 

 long, oval foramen, parallel to ramus, measuring 0.40 by 0.10 inch. 



General measurements of siciill. 



Inches. 

 Occipital crest to tip of bill 2. 60 



Occipital crest to fronto-maxillary articulation 1.40 



Width of skull at base 1.00 



Width between meatus auditorii 0. 42 



Extreme length of brain case 1.00 



Extreme height of brain case 0. 7.^i 



Width of frontal crest 0.80 



Height of frontal crest, middle liue 0. 50 



From fronto-maxillary articulation to tip of bill 1. 40 



The length of the symphysis is about one-fourth that of the entire 

 mandible. 



Vertebrae. — Cervical are thirteen in number, difi'eriug considerably 

 in shape. The second, third, and fourth show a distinct and prominent 

 neural spine, which becomes very small on the fifth, and can scarcely 

 be said to exist at all on the others. The second, third, fourth, ninth, 

 tenth, eleventh, and twelfth present also very prominent laminar hyp- 

 apophyses, which are not developed on the others. The bodies of the 

 first four are very short, rapidly lengthening to the ninth, which is the 

 longest, and again diminishing to the thirteenth, which is about as long 

 as the fifth. All the cervical vertebrae but the atlas present large and 

 distinct vertebral foramina, narrowing gradually toward the skull. The 

 arteries which pass through these would seem to be of unusucil size, 

 since the bodies of the vertebrae are deeply grooved beneath for their 

 reception. Eudimeutary ribs are distinct on the last five cervical ver- 

 tebi'se, as uncinate processes directed downward and backward from the 

 extremities of the transverse processes. They are less obvious farther 

 up the neck. 



Dorsal are eight in number, each carrying a rib, of which all but the 

 first and last articulate also with sternum. Each rib articulates both 

 with the body and transverse process of its vertebra, leaving a space 

 between its tubercle and head, which completes a morphological con- 

 tinuation of the vertebral foramina. From the third to the eighth 

 inclusive the dorsal vertebrae show very prominent himellar neural 

 spines, forming, by their apposition end to end, a continuous thin i)er- 

 pendicular ridge, which projects above the dorsum of the bird. The 

 bodies of the fourth and fifth are much compressed and flattened from 



