330 



Mr. P. R. Lowe on the Crab-Plover. 



The osseous irregularities along the base of the basi- 

 temporal piate are not, in Dramas, mammillated or con- 

 spicuous as they are in Hasmatopus — the condition noticed 

 approaching that peculiar to the Skuas. 



Text-figure 11. 



<Z'^^^ tujD.reC. docsi terrifa J7?., 



Palatal view of the skull of Droinas ardeola. 



ant.typ.rec, anterior tympanic recess; basitemp.pl., basi-temporal 

 plate ; mx.p., maxillo-palatine processes ; vo., vomer. 



In Dramas, as well as in the Gulls, Terns, Skuas, Stone- 

 Plovers, and Charadriidae, the planes of the basi-occipital 

 and basi-temporal are almost identical, but in the Oyster- 

 catchers the two planes are inclined at a conspicuous angle. 



