932 



PROF. A. H. GARROD ON INDICATOR MAJOR. [NoV. 19, 



is but little different from that of the Capitonidse. The palate of 

 Megalcema asiatica is described and figured by Professor Parker in 

 the ' Transactions of the Linnean Society ' l . It is truncated in front 

 and strongly bifid, the cornua running forward to blend with the 

 maxillo-palatines. These last-named inward-directed processes of 

 the maxillary bones blend with the mid-nasal septum in some 



Fig. 1. 



Palate of Indicator. 



specimens of Megalcema asiatica, whilst in others they remain free 

 from one another, separated by an inconsiderable interval. In 

 Pogonorhynchus bidentatus and Tetragonops ramphastinus they 

 completely blend across the middle line, without the nasal median 

 septum persisting in front of the junction. So these two last- 

 named species, and most probably all the species of the genera, 

 are genuinely desmognathous. 



The point iu which the truncated vomer of the Capitonidse most 

 differs from that of the order Passeres, is that in the former the 

 truncation occurs behind the line joining the posterior angles of the 

 maxillo-palatines, whilst in the latter the truncation occurs some 

 way in front of the same transverse line. The limbs of the forked 

 vomer in the Capitonidse run forward to meet the posterior angles 

 of the maxillo-palatines ; in the Passeres they continue, often in 

 cartilage alone, to the nasal labyrinth. 



1 2nd series, Zoology, vol. i. p. 122, and pi. 23. 



