OF THE SOUTHERN APTERYX. 263 
tures a narrow ridge is continued forwards along the middle line of the palatal surface 
of the beak to its deflected extremity: a mesial groove, corresponding with the above 
ridge, runs along the flattened upper surface of the elongated myza of the lower mandible. 
There is the same structure on the inner surface of the upper and lower mandible in 
the Ostrich and Rhea. In these, however, the palatal surface of the upper mandible is 
slightly concave ; but in the Apteryx the opposed surfaces of the upper and lower man- 
dibles produce, when pressed together, uniform and entire contact, and, as Mr. Yarrell 
has observed, are well adapted for compressing or crushing such substances as may be 
selected for food: the coadapted ridge and groove above described must add somewhat 
to the power of retaining such substances. To judge from the feeble development of the 
muscles of the jaw, and their disadvantageous place of insertion, the force of the nip of 
the mandibles, however, cannot be very great; and with this knowledge of the struc- 
ture of the bill, I was the less surprised to find large soft-bodied Lepidopterous larve 
entire in the stomach of Mr. Bennett’s male Apteryx. 
There are two small temporal muscles, one superficial, the other deep-seated, which 
cross each other obliquely: the superficial and posterior muscle is 4 lines broad and 1 
inch long: it is inserted by a round tendon into the coronoid edge, and by fleshy fibres 
into the external depression beneath that edge, extending as far forwards only as two- 
thirds of an inch from the joint of the jaw. The deep-seated temporal muscle sends its 
fibres to be inserted more vertically into the coronoid margin. A masseter, which is 
connected with a remarkably strong orbicularis palpebrarum, is inserted still nearer the 
joint, below the fossa for the insertion of the temporal muscle, and external to it. 
There is a fourth muscle employed in closing the bill, having a similar direction of its 
fivres to those of the masseter, but situated on the inside of tie temporal muscles: it 
extends from the pterygoid bone downwards, to be inserted fleshy into the inside of 
the coronoid margin of the lower jaw. This bone admits of slight protraction and 
retraction, the muscles performing which are the external and internal pterygoid, on 
each side. The external pterygoid arises by a broad and flat tendon from the ptery- 
goid plate, external to the posterior nares, and ‘expands as it proceeds backwards and 
outwards, to be inserted into the inflected posterior angle of the lower jaw. ‘The inter- 
nal pterygoid arises from the body of the sphenoid, behind the posterior nares, and con- 
tracts as it proceeds more directly outwards to be inserted into the angle of the lower 
jaw, above the preceding. The bill is opened by the analogue of the biventer mazille, 
which is here a stout, short, square-shaped fleshy muscle, deriving its origin from the 
ex-occipital process, and descending vertically, to be attached to the broad posterior 
angle of the lower jaw: from its close situation to the centre of motion this muscle can 
divaricate the tips of the mandibles about two inches. The movements of the jaw are 
regulated, and its joints strengthened, by several ligaments: one of these ligaments is 
interarticular, and passes directly between the jaw and os quadratum, in the interspace 
of the double condyle: another is external, and passes from the upper and outer angle 
