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ON INDICATOR MAJOR. 463 
The pterygoid bones of Indicator are much flattened from above 
downwards, with thin outer and inner margins, which are curved, a 
triangular groove on the palatal surface rnnning from end to end. 
In the Capitonide and Ramphastide these bones are much more 
eylindroid, the superior surface alone being thin-edged, whilst in the 
Picide they are thin, as in Indicator, but differ in possessing a large 
anteriorly directed process springing from the superior surface of 
each. 
In Indicator there is a small notch in the middle of the superior 
margin of the osseous orbit, no trace of which exists in any of the 
other birds above referred to. In its external osseous nares, also, there 
is no tendency towards the Ramphastine position of those orifices, 
such asis so well marked in Tetragonops; the alinasal ossification that 
tends to divide each of the nares into an anterior and a posterior 
moiety is likewise far less considerable than in Megalema. 
As is known, and well illustrated in Mr. Sclater’s figure of the 
bone (“ Ibis,” 1870, p. 178), the sternum agrees most closely with that 
of the Capitonide and Ramphastide; and this is especially the case 
in the imperfect development of the posterior extremity of the median 
xiphoid process, which in the Pieide continnes further onwards to 
reach the level of the ends of the lateral xiphoid processes, at the same 
time that the manubrial rostrum of the last-named family only of the 
group is bifid. As to the posterior sternal notches, the inner is the 
- deeper; and the same is the case in Gecinus viridis, whilst in Picus, 
the Capitonidz, and Ramphastide the outer is the deeper. 
In its soft parts Indicator agrees with the Capitonide, Ramphas- 
tide, and Picide, and differs from the Cucnlide, in the following 
particulars :—There is only one carotid artery, the left; the ambiens 
and the accessory femoro-caudal muscles are absent (the latter of 
these is wanting in the Tree-Cuckoos) ; there are no colic ceca. The 
femoro-caudal, semitendinosus and accessory semitendinosus are 
present, as is the large gluteus. The tensor patagii brevis muscle 
of the wing is inserted into the extensor metacarpi radialis longus 
exactly as in the Capitonide, Ramphastide and Picide, and as in no 
other birds.* As in these three groups also (and in the Galbulide, 
but not in the scansorial Cuculide and Psittaci), the deep plantar 
tendons are distributed peculiarly—the flexor profundus digitorum - 
supplying the third digit only, whilst the flexor longus hallucis sends 
slips to digits 1. m. and Iv., as well as a vinculum to its companion 
muscle.f The trachea at its lower end (fig. 3, p. 464) consolidates 
* Vide “ Proceedings of the Zoological Society,” 1876, p. 508, Pl. XLVIII, 
fig. 1. (Supra, p. 356. pl. 21.) 
+ Vide “ Proceedings of the Zoological Society,” 1875, p. 346. (Supra, p- 296.) 
