408 DR II. W. SHUFELDT. 



septum is as it is in Ciconia, and not as it is in the Heron, where 

 the septum is scarcely preformed in bone at all. 



Ardea herodias possesses crutcvphite fossce of large proportions^ 

 that for some considerable distance on the superior aspect of 

 the skull are merely separated by a line. This is by no means, 

 the case in Scojms, where the crotaphite f osscv, a,s in Ciconia, are 

 of more modest extent and well separated behind. Indeed, the 

 entire occipital region in Scopus agrees almost exactly with what, 

 we find in the common Stork, and this likewise applies to the 

 characters at the base of the skull. 



The osseous parts of the hyoidean apparatus of the Umbre are- 

 almost purely ciconine, as are the schrotal |;/a^es of either 

 eyeball. 



Passing to the consideration of the mandible, we again findi 

 that this part of the skeleton in Scopus is distinctly Stork, and. 

 not Heron. In Scopus the hinder aspects of the articular ends, 

 of the rami are cut squarely across as they are in Ciconia, and 

 are not obliquely truncated as we find them among the typical 

 Herons. 



Again, in Ardea there exists a tongue of bone, inter-ramal in 

 situation, extending backwards from the mid-posterior point of 

 the mandibular symphysis, that is absent both in Scopus and ini 

 Ciconia. That gentle inclination upwards of the anterior third 

 of the lower jaw, characteristic of so many of the waders of the 

 Stork-heron group, that secure their finny prey by sudden beak- 

 thrusts, is present not only in Ardea and Ciconia, but is. 

 equally well marked in Scopits. 



Taken as a whole, then, the shidl of Scopus umbretta in the 

 main morphologically agrees with the typical ciconine forms,, 

 and not with the Herons. 



On the remainder of the Axicd Skeleton. ■ — Eadically, the 

 vertebral cohtmn, the ribs, and the pelvis of Scopus are distinctly 

 ciconine, and exhibit but few affinities of an ardine nature. 

 Perhaps there may be a trace in the pelvis, but it is very slight. 

 Scopus possesses twenty-one free vertebnv between the skull and 

 pelvis, and this is also true of Ciconia alba, while in Ardea 

 herodias there are twenty-three in the same region. The vertebrae 

 of the tail in Scopus are large and spreading, and are highly 

 pneumatic; in the Heron, they are comparatively small, audi 



