Dr. J. Murie on the Upupidse. 187 



Almost every segment of the skeleton of the Hoopoe has 

 been descanted on by Milne-Edwards with a certain brevity 

 as to characteristics compared with the Aedorninse, I shall 

 avail myself of his labours, inasmuch as they may abbreviate 

 my own, adding, however, in another section such osteological 

 items as he has omitted or cursorily touched on. The sub- 

 joined is a free translation, and in a different order from his 

 paragraphs. The paging after each quotation refers the reader 

 to the original j the subsidiary headings are my own. 



Skull. — In the Hoopoes, which on account of the form of 

 the beak have been classed with Promerops by most zoologists, 

 the osteological characters furnished by other parts of the 

 cranium are, on the contrary, very different. The occiput, 

 in place of being uniformly rounded, is bilobed, and the lon- 

 gitudinal depression which separates them into two portions 

 is continuous anteriorly with the frontal depression. The 

 interorbital region is very large ; but the supramandibular 

 parts are still more so, and the descending branch of the la- 

 chrymal bone detaches itself in a remarkable manner. The 

 nasal orifices commence near to the frontals on the superior 

 aspect of the beak, and afterwards descend obliquely upon its 

 sides; instead of being single, as ordinarily, they are divided 

 into two portions by a transversely oblique lamina. As in 

 the Aedornines, the temporal grooves are very shallow and 

 the occipital crests feebly indicated (p. 360). 



Sternum and Shoulder-girdle. — The remarks of Blanchard 

 on these parts, already given, may supplant what Milne-Ed- 

 wards curtly says thereon (pp. 334, 340, 343, 346). 



Humerus. — It differs much from that of the Aedornines : 

 one never observes the median tubercle for the insertion of 

 the long extensor of the manus ; and the supracondylar tuber- 

 osity, when it exists, is not surmounted by a little projection. 

 These latter points suffice to characterize the humerus of 

 the Hoopoes, which besides resembles much that of the 

 Aedornines. 



Ulna. — This is very lengthened and rather slender. It 

 presents a certain resemblance to that of the true Passeres, 

 but it is distinguished by diminished prominence of the mus- 



