THE SKULL IN THE WOODPECKERS AND WRYNECKS. 15 



and a~more decided " transpalatine " angle; and the "os uncinatum" is much more 

 distinct than in P. analis ; their " maxillo-palatine " lobes are about equal. 



The main body of the palatine is more deeply grooved than in Gecinus ; in this it 

 agrees with P. analis; the " ethmo-palatine " hook shows some distinctness from the 

 end of the vomer. The absence of a " median septo-maxillary " is probably due to 

 maceration. 



On the Palate of Picus minor vel striolatus. 



Some years ago Mr. Bartlett put into my hands two ripe nestlings of this small 

 species ; these were immediately dissected, and have been greatly valued because of the 

 distinctness of their sutures. 



A palatal view of one of these skulls (Plate IY. fig. 1) well serves to illustrate the 

 structure in Picus proper (Plate IV. figs. 1 & 2). In front of the very wide " basi- 

 temporal" plate, with its median beak, we see a pair of very arrested " basipterygoids " 

 (b.pg) on the wide-rooted, short, sharp-pointed " parasphenoid " (pas) which underlies 

 the massive " meso-ethmoid." In front of the " hinge " the nasal septum (s. n) is still 

 cartilaginous to a great extent, although a bony tract from tbe trabecular cornu has run 

 backwards beneath it. The fore part of the nasal labyrinth is still cartilaginous ; but the 

 "pars plana" bebind has coalesced with the "meso-ethmoid." The praemaxillaries are 

 shorter here, and their palatine processes (p. px) curve inwards at their end, thus free- 

 ing themselves from the inner edge of the palatine. Immediately above the styloid 

 " interpalatine " processes \ipa) there are seen three " septo-maxillaries " (figs. 1 & 2, 

 s.mx), one on the right, larger, and two on the left, lesser ossicles. Their clavate ends 

 are attached to the clubbed fore end of the subarcuate vomers, which are suddenly fili- 

 form, and then expand into a twisted crest, where they join behind to the broad, 

 eroded, inturned " ethmo-palatines " {e.pa,v). The palatines are very broad and thin, 

 and have an obtuse "transpalatine" angle (t.pa). Their upper plates are uniting by 

 synchondrosis ; and a small " medio-palatine " centre has appeared on the left side, in front 

 (m.pa). The terminal part of tbe palatine is sharp and notched, and is overlain by 

 the large falciform " mesopterygoid process. 



The pterygoids (pg) are more slender than usual ; and the muscle-snag above is short 

 at present. The " os uncinatum " {p. u) is represented as yet by the unossified condition 

 of the " ecto-ethmoidal " angle. A small cuneiform " palato-maxillary " (p.px) has 

 appeared in the angle between the palatine and maxillary ; this latter bone sends inwards 

 a small subtriangular " maxillo-palatine " lip (mx.p), scarcely larger than, and not so 

 distinct as, the smallest process of the kind seen in the Bird Class, namely, in Mennra 

 swperba. I may mention the large " orbito-sphenoids " seen on each side in these 

 specimens, as they indicate a more general character of the bird than we have in the 

 Grow form, in the higher types of which, at least, these do not appear. 

 The lacrimal is, at present, a very small, short thread of bone behind the nasal. 

 The jugals (j) are quite distinct from the zygomatic process of the maxillary. 



