14 MR. W. K. PARKER ON THE MORPHOLOGY OF 



The "rostrum" of the " parasphenoid " (pa.s) is rather short, and glides in the pterygo- 

 palatine groove. Its pointed end comes short of the anterior sharp edge of the " meso- 

 ethmoid." 



The nasal septum (s. n), "anterior and inferior turbinals" (al.tb, i. tb) are well ossified, 

 as in Hemilophus ; these are only faintly indicated in the figure, to give prominence to 

 the facial arches. 



The median palatine part of the prsemaxillary (px) lies above the lateral palatine 

 plates (p.px), so as to form a rounded sulcus ; the latter have their retral tips anchy- 

 losed to the vomerine bar. The dentary regions of the prsemaxillary (cl.px) run con- 

 tinuously into the maxillary bar (mx). 



The palatine process of the prsemaxillary is connected with the stunted feeble ethmo- 

 palatine plate (e.pa) by a delicate, sinuous, rugose band of bone, which gradually broadens 

 backwards (figs. 3 & 4, p.px, s.mx, v). Here, whatever number of ossicles existed in the 

 growing bird, in the adult are all undistinguishable ; the only distinction between septo- 

 maxillary and vomer is in certain irregularities in this frail bony bar. Even here a 

 "median septo-maxillary " (m. s.mx) bounds the lower outline of the "hinge:" it is 

 fixed at the septal end. 



The pterygoids (pg), each with its large muscle-snag and scythe-shaped " mesoptery- 

 goid " process, are quite normal, as also are the palatines, which, however, have deve- 

 loped a gnawed transpalatine rudiment (t.pa). The " interpalatine " spurs have the 

 same irregular eroded appearance ; the " mediopalatine " lozenge (m.pa) is imbedded 

 in more cartilage than in Hemilophus. 



The " maxillo-palatine " processes (mx.p) form merely a small subtriangular lip to the 

 inner edge of the main maxillary bar (mx), and look broader than they are, because of the 

 outbowing of the bone on the dentary edge, where the angle of the mouth is. Small as 

 the ingrowth is, yet it is scooped below, to form an air-passage to the body of the bone. 

 All trace of suture in the jugal bar is gone, as in the other species. Here we come 

 athwart the most developed specimen of the odd " palato-maxillary " bone (p.msc) ; it is 

 a wedge-shaped plate, strongly attached to the overlying " alinasal wall," with its 

 enclosed turbinal. The " os uncinatum " (fig. 3, o. u) has a semidistinct appearance, 

 being well marked oat at the angle of the large well-ossified " pars plana." The la- 

 cry mal is, as in Gecinus and Hemilophus, a smallish semioval plate, which becomes 

 anchylosed to the hinder edge of the descending crus of the nasal, as in Thrushes. 



On the Palate o/'Picus major. 



The description of P. analis may serve also for this for the most part ; yet this is a 

 stouter kind, and the palatal bars are straighter and stronger (Plate I. fig. 1). The 

 specimen from which the drawing was taken, the gift of Dr. Murie, was rather young, 

 and it had lost the " palato-maxillary " and the " mediopalatine " by maceration ; its 

 less-developed condition gives a softer state of the ossifying nasal labyrinth. Yet 

 already the vomerine series had become fused together and to the prsemaxillary and 

 palatine bones (s.mx, v, p. pa, e.pa). This species has a free "interpalatine" spur, 



