Dr. J. Murie on the Upupidae. 195 



region having the advantage, in the figured specimens — al- 

 though in a second skull of /. erythrorhtjnchus I have found 

 the prsemaxillse quite, if not fully, as long as in the Hoopoe. 

 Be this as it may, the rear cranial segment containing the 

 brain of Irrisor is relatively wider, though about the same 

 height, as in Upupa. The frontal sulcus is shallower, almost 

 obsolete ; hence the vertex is all but wanting in the bilobation 

 peculiar to the Hoopoe, and so far resembles that of the Bee- 

 eaters. The breadth of the prefrontal region by inscooping 

 of the orbits is narrower than in either form compared, and 

 vastly different from the condition extant in the Bucerotidse. 

 The prsemaxilhe carry their basal width more forwards than 

 in Upupa ; but the shape of the beak otherwise is not unlike, 

 that of Irrisor inclining to greater deflexion. The shape and 

 position of the narial aperture and presence of supraorbital 

 foramen almost agree in the two genera, the latter perfora- 

 tion, however, being smaller in Irrisor. In both the nasal 

 septum is ossified, and the maxillo-palatines, with somewhat 

 firm spongy bone, fill the body of the mouth below. A me- 

 dian process pouts towards the postnares, but is not sunk 

 and grooved as in the Alcedinicla? and Meropidse. The hori- 

 zontal palatal plates are of moderate breadth, and have long 

 postexternal spinous processes. The continuation of the 

 palate-bones forward are more raised and outwardly tilted, 

 leaving therefore a deeper superficial maxillo-palatine de- 

 pression. Save this and a less spongy condition of the max- 

 illary region generally, the baso-cranial formation in Irrisor 

 and Upupa are well nigh identical. I must not omit to re- 

 mark, though, that Irrisor is distinguished by possessing stouter 

 pterygoids ; and these are not only wider at their anterior ends, 

 but do not meet ; the postinternal palatine angles likewise 

 are O'l inch short of union. 



As regards the quadrate bone, the auditory limb wants the 

 characteristic gutter of that of Upupa. The orbital limb 

 tapers more, and the mandibular knuckles are more pro- 

 nounced, there likewise being an accessory cusp to the inner 

 one. The vacuity of the orbit is somewhat less rotund in 

 Irrisor ; but in ossification of the interorbital septum, solder- 



