122 MR. W. K. PARKER ON THE STRUCTURE 



space between the nostril and antorbital, and the short inferior turbinal is ossified. The 

 ecto-ethmoid (fig. 3, pp) is entirely excluded from the frontal region. 



On the Structure of the Skull in Megalgema asiatica. 



Having described a good representative Cuculine face, I take as my next instance that 

 of a bird which has a doubtful and mixed morphology. The physiognomy of the living 

 bird corresponds with this ; for the most trained eye, seeing it for the first time, is 

 arrested by a sort of play and interchange of features, now looking like a relative of the 

 Cuckoo, and anon seeming to belong to the Southern Shrikes or Crows {e.g. Vanga, 

 Coronica, Gymnorhina) . 



Seen from below (Plate XXIII. fig. 4), the imperfectly " desmognathous " and semi- 

 passerine characters are seen at one view. The bony structures have the same Owl- like 

 spongy character as is general in the Cuculine birds ; in the " Coracomorpha3 " they are 

 more fibrous and stronger ; they are more cleanly built. 



In Megalcema the basipterygoids are quite aborted, and the basifacial beam is 

 rounded to its end, the parasphenoidal rostrum ending below the hinge as a blunt spur. 

 In front of the hinge there is a solid postseptal bone, which ossifies that part of the 

 trabecular bar ; for the rest, the septum nasi is aborted to a great degree, yet the recur- 

 rent alinasal folds send backward a style of bone which reaches almost to the vomerine 

 forks. The nasal labyrinth has its scrolls stunted ; those of the " alee " are partly ossified, 

 and the alinasal wall has become thick bone externally (aln) ; in front this bar divides 

 the external space into an anterior true and a posterior false narial opening, as in many 

 Cuculines. 



The spongy premaxillaries are remarkable in having their thick, hollow, rod-like 

 palatine processes free posteriorly (fig. 4, ppx). The dentary termination is equally 

 thick, but its lower edge is sharp and dentate. 



The os uncinatum is not distinct from the pars plana (figs. 4 & 5, ou, pp), but it has 

 retained its primary embryonic shape as a somewhat hooked triangular flap. The 

 vomerine series of trabecular splints is extremely interesting. There is no evidence of a 

 cartilaginous origin for the evidently double vomer (v) ; but its explanation must be 

 sought for in a series of forms outside the Cuculine boundary, as well as near the border, 

 namely, in the Humming-bird. As in Gymnorhina, Somorus, and Trochilus there are 

 five vomerine bones, two vomerine moieties, forming a most elegant Y-shaped bone, a 

 pair of septo-maxillaries, and a median piece (fig. 4, v, smx, smx'). When the septo- 

 maxillaries are well developed, as in the " Ophidia," they stretch themselves beyond the 

 vomers, fore and aft, as is well seen in the Cobra {Naja tripudians) ; but when they are 

 feebly developed, a bony rudiment may appear in any part of the tract occupied by them 

 in their larger growth. 



Thus in the Sparrow (Plate XXI. fig. 4, smx) they appear outside the broad shouldei 

 of the vomer ; in the Humming-bird in front of the broadest part ; and here, in Megalcema, 

 behind, answering to that terminal spike of the bone in the Cobra which articulates 

 with the ethmo-palatine crest. I am satisfied that this is the true interpretation of the 

 posterior pair of vomerine bones in Megalcema ; for the bone does not form & palatine com- 



