Shufeldt : Osteology of the Psittaci. 405 



The Chakal iers Presented hy the Skeleion in Conurus 

 carolinensis. 



From cranio-facial hinge to tip of beak the cuhneii of the superior 

 mandible of the skull is much, though uniformly, arched. Posterior 

 to the subcircular osseous nares this culminal surface is broad and 

 nearly flat, but beyond these apertures it is convex, both transversely, 

 and as has been said, along its middle line. 



The dentary margins of this mandible are cultrate and deeply 

 notched at their middle jjoints, as shown in plate I, Fig i, where the 

 skull is shown upon right lateral view. 



Complete fusion of the nasals, with the bones that surround them 

 has taken place, and all the sutural traces have been absorbed. 



The under side of this mandible is bounded behind by a straight, 

 transverse line, above which the palatines are inserted. Its general 

 surface, otherwise, is unbroken, and evenly concave throughout, save 

 a faint medio-longitudinal ridge, best marked behind. 



The interior of this superior mandible is, apart from the narial 

 chambers, more or less filled uj) with an osseous, spongy tissue, that 

 presents a more compact nature where it forms the anterior wall of 

 these latter. This tissue has so far fused with the similar bony mass 

 that represents the maxillo-palatines on either side, that one -cannot 

 with certainty judge of their exact limits or boundaries in this .si)ecies 

 of parrot. This condition also obtains in Ara and in Cacatua (see 

 Figs. I and 3, Plate I). 



Speaking in general terms. Professor Huxley sa}s of the Psiiiaci 

 that "the maxillo-palatines are very large and spongy in texture, and 

 unite Avith one another and the ossified nasal sei)tum so as to fill up al- 

 most the whole base of the l)eak. Above, however, a nasal passage is 

 left on each side ; and, l)elow the maxillo-palatines stop short, so that, 

 in the dry skull, a passage, leading into the cavity of the rostrum, is 

 left on each side of the septum." ' 



These remarks are illustrated by the under view of the skull of Cac- 

 atua galerita, which bird, I think, from the drawing, must have its nasal 

 sej)tum, as well as the .spongy mass which surrounds, jjroduced a little 

 further backwards than it is in the subject we have in hand and which 

 is really the case in that s})ecies. However, the parts are homologous 

 in both of these forms, though one would hardly have suspected the 

 mass in cjuestion to have represented a part of the skull deserving of 

 a s])ecial name, had the Carolina parrot been the only bird examined. 



" Huxley, T. II., "On the Cla.ssification of Birds," P. Z. S., 1S67, p. 442. 



