8 Shufeldt, Osteology of the Red Wattle-Bird. [isf "j^iy 



lower boundaries being thus reduced to extremely slender rodlets 

 of bone, which in any case would require but little to fracture. 



There may be a minute artiadar sesamoid present at the 

 quadrate-mandibular articulation on either side, and a free, 

 ossified siphoniitm leading into the aural cavity, posterior and 

 above either quadrate, such as we find in many other birds. 



Such Meliphagidcp as the species here being considered, and 

 representatives of the genera Entomyza, Prosthemadera, and others, 

 have the hyoidean apparatus constructed upon a similar plan, 

 and this requires a more careful description than I have accorded 

 it in previous papers of mine on the subject. 



We find that the thyro-hyals do not curve up over the skull 

 behind, as they do in some of the Nectariniidcs, as I have else- 

 where pointed out. 



In Anthochcera carunculata and its near allies the glosso-hyal 

 is of some size (fig. 3, Plate I.), rather elongate, V-shaped, 

 concaved above, convex below, and with its postero-external 

 angles somewhat produced. Anteriorly it is slightly bifurcated, 

 and only semi-ossified. Mesially. from beneath this glosso-hyal 

 there extends far forwards a long, slender bundle of bony bristles, 

 which, for their anterior third or more, minutely re-divide so as 

 to form a stiff little distal free brush, which the bird employs in 

 feeding itself, after the fashion of its well-known, peculiar habit. 

 This arrangement is equally well developed in other Meli- 

 phagidine genera, as stated in a former paragraph. 



The basi-hyal is rather short, laterally compressed, and is 

 extended posteriorly in the middle line by a semi-ossified, flatfish 

 iiro-hyal. 



Either cerato-hranchial is a long, nearly straight, very slender 

 osseous rod, while the flattened epi-hranchials are very short, and 

 present but very slight curvature. The lengths of the latter vary 

 somewhat in the different species of the Meliphagidcs. 



The sclerotal platelets of the eye present nothing worthy of a 

 special description, as they in no way differ from those structures 

 in ordinary Passerine birds of this size among the assemblage as 

 a whole (fig. 2, Plate I.) 



Sharpe retained the genus Ac anther hynchiis (Gould) in the 

 family Meliphagidce {loc. cit., vol. v., p. 71). It will be seen in 

 the list of material given above that I have at hand a small un- 

 identified species of this genus (rough skeleton No. 718), it having 

 been sent me, as pointed out, by Dr. F. E. Beddard. Of this 

 specimen I said, on page 536 (footnote) of my paper on Arach- 

 nothera magna, cited above : — " Without going into details, and 

 judging from the skeleton alone, I would remark that the Aus- 

 tralian genus of birds named Acanthorhynchus, which have been 

 referred to the MeliphagidcB, possess skeletal characters which, 

 in the main, agree better with the corresponding ones in Arach- 

 nothera than with any of the same characters as seen in the short- 

 billed Meliphagidce." After a careful comparison of the aforesaid 

 skeleton of Acanthorhynchii'i with additional material, the fact is 



