194 Wetmore, The Palate in Icteridoe. [x p h 



form from Florida show a preponderance of insects and fruits 

 with very little mast or grain, a fact of interest, but one that is 

 not fully substantiated as the material available is small. 



Among near relatives of Quiscalus quiscula a slightly developed 

 palatal ridge was encountered in Megaquiscalus macrourus, where 

 the projection was broad and well rounded posteriorly, and narrow 

 in front with the lower margin acute, forming a sharp keel. In 

 some specimens seen this keel was slowly reduced until it merged 

 smoothly with the palatal surface in front. In others the anterior 

 margin was obtusely declivous. The obtuse anterior cutting angle 

 projected below the margins of the tomia for nearly a millimeter 

 in a few individuals, and in these occasional specimens the resem- 

 blance was striking to those bills of Quiscalus in which the ridge was 

 most poorly developed. Juvenile specimens of Megaquiscalus m. 

 macrourus from Fort Clark, Texas, that had been collected just 

 after they had left the nest, had the palatal ridge already well 

 indicated though only about one-half developed. In the slender- 

 billed forms known as Megaquiscalus ienuirostris and M . nicara- 

 gucnsis the palatal keel was much as in M. ?najor though slighter 

 and less pronounced. 



In Blackbirds belonging to the West Indian group known as 

 Holoquiscatus a raised line was also more or less developed. In 

 general the growth was similar to that in Megaquiscalus as the 

 posterior portion was broad and rounded, while anteriorly the ridge 

 was narrowed and the lower margin became acute. There is some 

 variation in the size of this anterior portion; in a few the crest is 

 obtusely declivous in front, approaching the condition found in 

 Quiscalus, but never with the keel produced so that it projects below 

 the plane subtended by the cutting edges of the tomia. 



The discovery of a peculiar knoblike process on the palate of the 

 mexican orioles belonging to the species Icterus gularis was one of 

 the really surprising discoveries made during a more or less cursory 

 examination of the palate in various species and genera of Icteiidm 

 picked out at random, and it was the finding of this structure in 

 an Oriole that led to a detailed examination of all of the material 

 available. In Icterus gularis the palatal ridge is from 1.2 to 1.5 

 millimeters high at its anterior end (Fig. 2). The entire structure 

 is broad and somewhat flattened. The ventral surface is slightly 



