130 SHUFELDT. [Vol. XVII. 



countries about the Mediterranean, are not found in Norway. 

 The two first-named species have been found as far north as 

 Jutland and the southern part of Skaane, but are, like Scops 

 gin, principally south and middle European forms. Asio 

 capensis belongs to the Ethiopian region. I have not had the 

 opportunity to examine the heads of any of these in the flesh ; 

 and, as the dermal structures of the auricular openings cannot 

 with entire safety be described from dried or steamed heads, 

 the following remarks will have reference only to the cranial 

 characters in these species. Strix flammea, which is the type 

 of the first subfamily of Striges, belongs, as is well known, to a 

 special group, different from the other six groups of North- 

 European B2ibonin(2 just described. Its principal characters 

 are a symmetrical cranium, and a broad ear-flap, which is much 

 larger than the comparatively small (symmetrical .-') ear-open- 

 ings. The cranium, which appears to be entirely lacking in 

 asymmetry, is peculiarly lengthened, with a long and slender 

 mandibular portion, and with a marked development of the 

 diploic tissue in several of the cranial bones, to an extent not 

 approached by any of the other North-European species. 



As in Syrnium lapponiciim, the forehead slopes conspicu- 

 ously downwards, but here, to such a high degree that the 

 line becomes almost concave. The medio-longitudinal furrow 

 on the top of the cranium is deeper than it is in any of the 

 other groups, and the forehead is raised almost pyramidically 

 above the orbits upon either side of this deep median furrow. 

 No distinct fossa stands between the crest upon the os sqna- 

 mosicni and the parietal bone, as is seen to be the case in most 

 of the other groups of BjibonincB, and this crest has, upon 

 the whole, no extraordinary or very pronounced development ; 

 but the cranium is especially remarkable on account of the 

 great thickness of the interorbital septum, which here presents 

 no point where it is thin, as is the case in all the other species. 

 The orbits, relatively speaking, are notably incapacious ; the 

 lacrymals are disproportionately large and swollen, and are 

 found beneath the frontal, upon either side, and not as in the 

 subfamily Bubonince, partly (or often quite) beneath the supe- 

 rior mandible. 



