1872.] DR. J. MURIE ON THE SKELETON OF TODUS. 607 



dency, the temporal muscular groove, however, being much better 

 marked in them. 



The cranial contour of Todus examined from above answers better 

 to Ispidina than to Halcyon, Dacelo, and the narrow-beaked genera 

 of Kingfishers. The two former, however, are quite as distinct from 

 each other as are the varied types of the Kingfishers among themselves. 

 The chief feature which draws Todus, Ispidina, and Eumomota to- 

 gether is the moderate breadth of the prsemaxillse, these bones con- 

 tinuing of fair width forwards. But in Ispidina they terminate more 

 acutely than in Todus and Eumomota ; and in the former they 

 possess an outer basal constriction absent in the two latter. The 

 said constriction is not met with in the Laughing Kingfisher {Dacelo) ; 

 but, again, its broad beak has a pyramidal shape entirely different 

 from the very low convex form in the Tody and Eumomota. In 

 Todus, as contrasted with Ispidina and Eumomota, the prefrontal 

 region is proportionally narrower and longer ; the lower corners of 

 the lachrymals are placed at right angles to the long axis of the 

 skull, and the cerebral division is wide compared with its fore-and- 

 aft length. In Merops, Upupa, and Galbula, and in a less degree 

 in Momotus, the broad- based and sharp forward cut of the beak, 

 the short, very wide prefrontal or interorbital breadth, with the pro- 

 duction anteriorly of the postorbital margin, are the reverse of what 

 obtains in Todus. Whilst the prefrontals are narrow in Muscicapa, 

 as in Todus, yet, on the other hand, in the former the beak is short 

 and triangular, and the cerebral region antero-posteriorly fuller 

 than in the latter. Picus, according to the size of the species (in 

 the case of the smaller most markedly), manifests an upper skull- 

 contour of a very different pattern. 



The inferior view or base of the skull of the Tody uecessarily has 

 an outline corresponding to its vertex ; but the facies of the prsemax- 

 illse, palatines, pterygoids, sphenoid, &c. involves material differences 

 of the mid area. The spaces enclosed by the jugal rods are long and 

 narrow ; the posterior narial orifice trends well back, causing the 

 pterygoids to meet at a wide angle ; the foramen magnum comes 

 into full view ; and the spheno-occipital region is, on the whole, 

 inflated. The differences extant in allied forms I shall allude to 

 hereafter. 



With regard to the dimensions of the skull, seeing I have given 

 enlarged figures, I may in this place take note of a few of the measure- 

 ments, of natural size: — Extreme length 1*3 inch ; extreme breadth 

 (that is, above the tympanic region) 045 inch; and greatest height 

 the same, the skull resting on a flat surface ; beak from anteorbital 

 root to its tip 0"7 inch ; width of the prsemaxillae at their junction 

 with the jugals fl - 3 inch, and at their middle about - 2 inch. 



In reviewing the component parts of the cranium I shall commence 

 with that portion which of recent date has attracted most attention, 

 I mean the palatal region. 



In the dried skull of the Tody each palatal moiety presents pos- 

 teriorly a somewhat triangular, or V-shaped, horizontal plate, the 

 rearmost angle meeting the pterygoid. The anterior angles of the 



