378 Mr. C. W. Andrews on the Skull, 



by Prof. J. Parker in liis paper on the Cranial Osteology of 

 the Moas are nsed so far as possible. 



As already stated by Milne-Edwards and Grandidier, the 

 large occipital condyle, as in Apteryx and the Dinornithida3, 

 is strongly peduncnlate; except that its upper surface is 

 rather flattened, it is hemispherical in form, and in neither 

 specimen is there any trace of a notochordal depression. 



The /or«mew magnum (Plate VIII. fig. 2) is large and oval, 

 its long (vertical) diameter measuring 17 mm., the short 

 (horizontal) 13 mm. Its plane is somewhat inclined back- 

 ward, but the upper margin only very slightly, if at all, over- 

 hangs the occipital condyle, owing to the great prominence of 

 the latter. There is no trace of an occipital crest, but there is 

 a very prominent supra-foraminal ridge, which is continued 

 downwards to the inner angles of the paroccipital processes. 

 Above the foramen the occipital surface slopes somewhat 

 forwards ; at first it is flattened, but above it passes by a 

 gentle curve into the parietal region. The lambdoidal ridges 

 are very feebly developed, if, indeed, the posterior may not 

 be regarded as entirely wanting. The anterior, in its median 

 portion, runs transversely in a straight line ; laterally it turns 

 downward, nearly joining the temporal ridge, and ventrally 

 it becomes continuous with the outer border of the some- 

 what backwardly-directed paroccipital processes {j^ar.oc). 

 These are very broad, and their evenly-curved ventral 

 margin is about on a level with the bottom of the occipital 

 condyle ; their posterior surface is convex from above down- 

 ward, while their anterior surface, forming the posterior wall 

 of the tympanic cavity, is concave in the same direction. 



The postorbital portion of the cranial roof (Plate A^III. 

 figs. 1 & 3) is about equally convex from before backward and 

 from side to side. Posteriorly it is narrowed by the encroach- 

 ment of the deep temporal fossae [t.f.), but in front of these 

 it widens out and curves steeply downward, forming the large 

 postorbital processes {p.orb.pr.). In the interorbital region 

 the cranial roof is flattened and is somewhat narrowed. A 

 most interestmg point is the presence in the frontal region of 

 numerous deep rounded pits (see Plate VIII. fig. 1) . Of these 



