Page 417. 
350 THE ANATOMY OF COLIUS. 
men at his disposal was somewhat injured; nevertheless, of the 
maxillo-palatine processes of the maxillary bones, he says that they 
intrude but a slight way beyond the palatal rods, and leave a wide 
middle space betwixt them, and that, ‘‘as respects the presence of a 
vomer, there is apparently a short one, tapering rather than abruptly 
truncate anteriorly, and not visibly cleft behind.” Dr. Murie there- 
fore removes Oolius from-among Prof. Huxley’s Desmognathe, and 
consequently from the Coccygomorphe. 
In the preparation of the skull of my specimen of Colius castano- 
notus I have taken special care; and I find that the bird, as will be 
seen by the drawing which I exhibit, is without doubt desmogna- 
thous. Moreover, as the desmognathism apparently depends on the 
fusion of the feebly developed maxillo-palatine plates across the 
middle line as well as with the ossified nasal septum, it should, 
according to the valuable nomenclature of Prof. Parker,* be termed 
direct (of the first variety), as in the Falcons. It is not, however, 
possible to determine with certainty from the adult skull (from mine 
at least) whether the nasal septum has intervened between the 
maxillo-palatines, as in the Eagles, Vultures, and Owls, and as it is in 
Palate of Colius castanonotus, x 2%. 
* “ Transactions of the Zoological Society,” vol. [X, p. 293. 
