416 MR. A. H. GARROD ON THINOCORUS AND ATTAGIS. [Mayl, 



(part ii., read before this Society in February 1876, and not yet pub- 

 lished), Prof. Parker has fully described and beautifully figured the 

 skull of Thinocorus rumicivorus, and has drawn special attention to 

 the S}>uriously ^githognathous nature of the palate, with its peculiarly 

 broad vomer, rounded in front, and there intimately connected with 

 the nasal cartilages in a manner which much resembles the arrange- 

 ment in Passerine birds. In the accompanying figure (p. 41.")) the 

 palate oi Attagis gayi is represented from a specimen most kindly lent 

 me by Mr. T. C. Eyton, the sternum of which is that referred to 

 above as figured in the ' Osteologia Avium.' 



By comparing it with Mr. Parker's figure of Thinocorus rumicivo- 

 rus, the almost exact identity of the two is rendered certain. In the 

 same memoir Mr. Parker also directs attention to the nature of the 

 anterior osseous nares, which, as he remarks, are much the same as 

 in the Turnicidse. Both these genera agree with the birds termed 

 Schizorhinal by me in a previous paper', resembling the Limicolae, 

 Pteroclidse, Columbae, and their allies in this respect — although, on 

 account of the shortness of the face, as in the Pteroclidse, their 

 schizorhinal nature is not quite so conspicuous as in such genera as 

 Grus, Ibis, and Scolopax. The superior aspect of the skull of 

 Attagis gayi is also represented supra (p. 41.")). 



In more than one peculiarity the skulls of Thinocorus and of Atta- 

 gis differ from those of Turnix and Hemipodius^. The maxillo-pala- 

 tines, instead of being slender throughout and simply squared off at 

 their free ends, which are situated considerably nearer the middle 

 line than are the inner margins of the palatine bones at the parts 

 which they oppose, are broad, short, and swollen apically, where they 

 scarcely project beyond the median borders of the palatines. The 

 Turnicidae also possess an extensive articulation between the middle 

 of each pterygoid bone and the basisphenoid rostrum — no traces even 

 of processes for such an articulation being present in the Thinocorinsej 

 in which latter subfamily also the supraorbital glands, although not 

 largely developed, leave a small crescentic depression on the superior 

 surface of the upper margin of the bony orbit, not present in the 

 former group. 



Continuing the comparison with the Turnicidae, it may be men- 

 tioned that in them the left carotid artery is alone developed (in 

 Hemipodius tachydromus and Turnix lepurana at least), whilst the 

 accessory femoro-caudal muscle, as well as the slip to the patagium 

 from the biceps of the arm, are wanting, at the same line that tlie 

 obturator internus is large and fan-shaped, not oval and small'. 

 The colic caeca, also, never exceed 1| inch in length, in which, as 

 well as all the above-mentipned characters, they differ from the 

 Thinocorinae. 



That Turnix and Thinocorus are not intimately related may be 



1 P. Z. S. 1873, p. 33 ct seqq. 



^ For most instructive figures and descriptions of the skulls of Turnix and 

 Hemipodius see Prof. Parkers paper "On j^githognatlious Birds," part i., 

 Trans. Zool. Soe. vol. is. pi. liv. and p. 294. 



'' VideV.7j.fi.. 1876, p. 10.-1. 



