Gallino-Gralline Group of Birds. 419 



Pneumatic humeri appear to be constant in the Gallinse^ 

 the Pterocletcs, the Cokimbse, and the Crypturi. The 

 humerus appears to be always oily in the Colymbaj^ the 

 Podicipes, and the Impennes. The Tubinares appear to 

 have oily humeri, Avith the exception of the Dioracdcidae ; 

 and so have the Gavio-Limicolae, with the exception of three 

 genera, Stercurarius, Rhynchops, and Anous. In the Grallae 

 the only exceptions that I know of are the Gruidse, the 

 Otididae, Opisthocomus, and possibly Psophia. 



Subclavicular Process. 

 The coracoid articulates not far from one end with the end 

 of the scapula, and at the end with the side of the clavicle 

 near its end. The end of the scapula also articulates with 

 the end of the clavicle, and the end of the clavicle is gene- 

 rally also articulated with a process which springs from near 

 the end of the coracoid. This process is called the subclavi- 

 cular process ; it is absent in the Ratitae, the Crypturi, and 

 the Gallinse. 



Bifurcation of the Nasal Bone. 

 The bifurcation of the nasal bone where it joins the frontal 

 and becomes separated into two processes, one (the superior 

 or inner process) coalescing with the nasal process of the prae- 

 maxillary, and the other (the inferior or outer j)rocess) join- 

 ing the maxillary, varies in different species of birds. In the 

 Plovers the angle of bifurcation is as acute as possible, and 

 the apex extends as far as the posterior terminations of the 

 nasal processes of the prsemaxillary between the centres of 

 the lachrymals. Garrod regarded this character as of great 

 importance in the classification of birds, and proposed to term 

 birds possessing it schizorhinal (Garrod, Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 1873, p. 33). In most birds this angle of the bifurcation of 

 the nasal is rounded off, and a line drawn across the skull 

 at a tangent to the two curves falls in front of the lachrymals 

 and the termination of the nasal processes of the prsemaxillary. 

 To this character Garrod applied the term holorhinal ; but it 

 is doubtful whether it has the taxonomic ^nportancc which 



