320 SHUFELDT. [Vot. II. 
margin, appearing in the adult to be a part of the palatine itself. 
A similar arrangement is to be found in Avexaria, — so that in 
this character, Turnstones and Oyster-catchers agree, while the 
Surf-bird, Plovers, and 77mge@ are fundamentally alike; in 
the first, the maxillo-palatines have, in the adult individual, 
coalesced with the palatines, each on its own side; while in the 
three last-mentioned families the maxillo-palatines are indepen- 
dent and freely projecting processes. 
Aphriza agrees with all the allied types before us, in having a 
long, slender vomer, its posterior limbs anchylosing with the 
palatines behind, and a median carination extending for its en- 
tire length along its nether aspect. With the exception of 
Hematopus, the bone in all is pointed anteriorly, and in the ex- 
cepted genus it is at that end distinctly bifurcated.} 
In the form of its mandzble, A. virgata substantially agrees 
with the Plovers and Sandpipers. The upturned, slender 
process at the angle is well developed, and the inturned ends 
of the articular cups are quite prominent, showing the usual 
single pneumatic foramen at each extremity. Two vacuities 
occur in either ramus, a small surangular one, and a long, semi- 
closed, splenial one, the sides of the jaw in this region being verti- 
cal and rather deep. The symphysis is rounded beneath, concaved 
above, and equals in length about one-fifth the length of a ramus. 
In the Black Oyster-catcher the symphysis equals more than a 
third of the ramus, and is scarcely at all excavated above, while 
it is decidedly wedge-shaped below. Avenaria also has a deep 
symphysis to its mandible, but here again it is concaved above 
and rounded beneath, and the larger of the two ramal vacuities 
is represented by a very open, subelliptical foramen. 
Among the more ordinary types of existing birds, the Zyotdean 
apparatus, as we know, presents but few differences when we 
come to compare it for the various families. Our subject forms 
no exception to this statement, and little need be said here in 
reference to this part of the skeleton in Aphviza. We find the 
arches alluded to to be very delicately constructed, and have 
the basibranchials in two separate pieces, the second one being 
very short and finished off behind in cartilage. The cerato- 
1 Here we have a departure from the rule laid down by Huxley, who has said 
that in Schizognathous birds, “ the vomer, sometimes large and sometimes very small, 
always tapers to a point anteriorly.” P. Z. S., 1867, p. 426. 
