36 



The Chairman also directed the attention of tlie Committee to a 

 remarkable deficiency observable in some of the grouj)s of the Psit- 

 tacidce, viz. the absence of the osfurcatorium. This deficiency he had 

 observed in the osteology of the Psittacus mitrntus, the Platycercus 

 eximius, and the Psittacula galgula; skeletons of the tvvo lašt of which 

 species were exhibited. He observed that this extraordinary defi- 

 ciency evinced the approaching affinity of that group of birds to 

 the Rasores, oneof the most conspicuous groups of vvhich, the typi- 

 cal Struthionidce , exhibited a likę deficiency, indicating a corre- 

 sponding failure in the powers of flight. 



