162 Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 



Doctor Sharpe^ places the Pelargiformes (Order XX) between 

 the Gruiformes (Order XIX) and the Phcenicopteriformes (Order 

 XXI) and classifies them in the following manner : 



Order. 



Pelargiformes. 



Upon comparing the views as to the position of the Herodiones in 

 the system, as expressed in the classifications of these various distin- 

 guished authorities, it will be observed that Professor Huxley and Dr. 

 Sclater practically agree in their propositions, while a greater or less 

 degree of variance is seen to obtain with respect to all the others. 



In July, 1889, the present writer published in The Journal of Com- 

 parative Medicine and Surgery (New York) a brief illustrated article 

 entitled " Osteological Studies of the Subfamily Ardeinae," which 

 contained some considerable information on the skeletology of the 

 Herons. The body of this memoir is herewith republished with its 

 figures, as an initial groundwork for the present contribution. Later 

 on I will supplement it with comparative descriptions of such other 

 materials as have fallen into my hands since it was written. In the 

 paper named the species selected for description was the Great Blue 

 Heron (^4rdea herodias'), and after reciting the work done with the 

 Herons by other authors, the osteology of this species was substantially 

 given in the following words : 



Of the Skull of Ardea herodias. — Upon superior view of the skull of 

 this Heron, our attention is first directed to its long, narrow, and 

 sharp-pointed bill. This has the outline of a lofty isosceles triangle, 

 of which the base is the line made at the site of the cranio-facial angle, 

 and its apex, the tip of the beak. This surface is pierced in several 

 localities, notably near the apex, and in front of the nostrils, by mi- 

 nute foramina, while its sides and ridge are venated. The osseous 

 culmen, owing to a linear depression on either side passing forward 

 from the nostril, is in midregion semi-cylindrical, which convex sur- 

 face is continued on the apex, while above the nostrils and the pre- 

 cranio-facial region, though still convex, it is broader and flatter. The 



'^ Review of Recent Alle7Hpts to Class fy Birds. Budapest, 1891, p. 75. 



