2l6 SmiFELDT, Osteology of Cereopsis novcF-fiollandio'. [,^rA"ni 



Wild Geese, of various genera, usually have the distal end of 

 the vomer either lirmly clasped by the iinited maxillo-palatines 

 or else completely fused with them. As a rule, the upper border 

 of the vomer is produced anteriorly as a delicate little spine, and 

 it is this spine alone that sometimes is the part thus fixed 

 Occasionally, however, the distal end of the vomer is free, as it 

 is in a skull of a Chlorpha^a hyhrida at hand (No. 1,820, Coll. U.S. 

 Nat. Mus.) ; but this is by no means commonly the case. 



Turning next to the basal view of the skull in Cereopsis, we are 

 to note that the hasiteinporal area is unusually smooth, and 

 devoid of any striking elevations or depressions. Anteriorly, at 

 its termination, the openings to the Eustachian tubes are in plain 

 sight, being unprotected by the usual underlying lip of bone, 

 developed at the anterior apex of the basitemporal. What is 

 more remarkable, the basitemporal in the skull at hand develops 

 a thin sheath of bone, which spreads out over the basisphenoid, 

 to extend forwards as far as the anterior endings of the facets for 

 the pterygoids, l)etween which latter, posteriorly, the aforesaid 

 sheath is perforated by an elliptical foramen of some size, with 

 its major axis in the median line. Such a formation has never 

 been observed by me before in the skull of any bird. It is not 

 repeated in any of the Anaiidce now under consideration. 



In all anserine fowls the quadrate is a large and massive bone, 

 and to this Cereopsis forms no exception. Upon either one, the 

 two articular facets for articulation with the mandible are elongo- 

 elliiisoidal in contour, with their major axes in line with the 

 longitudinal axis of the pterygoid of the same side. Posterior to 

 these two facets, the quadrate extends well posteriorly : and on 

 the outer side of this extension we find the little cup-like depression 

 for articulation with the hemispherical facet on the mesial aspect 

 of the proximal end of the quadrato-jugal part of the zygoma. 

 When articulated, as in life, this posterior extension of the 

 quadrate in Cereopsis comes in contact with the antero-inferior 

 angle of the external border of the tympanic ring, and to all 

 ai)pearances there is something after the order of a pseudo- 

 articulation at that point (No. 19,711, Coll. U.S. Nat. Mus.) This 

 does not obtain in any other wild Goose examined by me. The 

 orbital process of the quadrate is well developed, being a strong, 

 pointed apophysis, and directed, when the bone is articulated, 

 upwards, forwards, and inwards. As to the mastoid head of the 

 bone, I have not been able to examine it, as its ligaments hold 

 it firmly in place in the skull at hand, which is not mine. However, 

 this head of the bone is probably double — that is, there are, 

 perhaps, two facets for articulation with the squamosal, with a 

 well-marked lineal depression separating them. This is the case 

 in most Anseres, and in the quadrates of all the various species 

 of wild Geese examined by me. Of these fwo facets, the internal 

 one is the larger [Chen-, Branta, Anser). 



In Chen hyperhoreus, on the mesial aspect of the quadrate, 

 below the internal mastoidal head, there is a large pneumatic 



