HALCYOKNIS TOLTAPICUS. 555 



part of the skull of the smaller species of Gull ; but the 

 absence of the frontal chevron-shaped ridge, defining the 

 excavation (fig. 234, c, 0) for the supra-orbital glands, 

 which ridge is present in all the species of Larus, as it is 

 in most other long-ringed marine birds, forbids a refe- 

 rence of the fossil to that genus. The occiput is also rela- 

 tively broader in the fossil (fig. 234, A). 



In the general form of the cranium, I have hitherto 

 found the nearest resemblance to the fossil in the King- 

 fisher (ib. D and E) ; but the temporal fossae (#) extend 

 further upon the upper surface of the skull. In the sub- 

 joined cut (fig. 235), I have restored the skull after the 

 pattern of that of the Kingfisher, in order to render the 

 fossil more intelligible. 



Fig. 235. 



Fossil cranium of Bird, eocene clay, Sheppey. Nat. size. 



