270 PROFESSOR W. K. PARKER ON THE 
spike (fig. 6, t.pa) being scarcely more developed than in the lower forms of the 
Coracomorphe. ‘The interpalatine spurs are large, and the ethmo-palatines about 
equal (i.pa, epa). The palato-maxillaries (p.ma) are much more acerose; and the 
maxillo-palatines are large pneumatic “ladles,” with an inferior gaping aperture. 
The vomer has a notch in front; and, above, it runs as a bony “hor” into the in- 
turned lamina (7. a/); it sends down a sharp ridge from each outer edge. In E. mili- 
aria the rostrum is very naked or scooped below; in £. citrinella it is much less so. 
In this latter species the tympanic bullz are extremely large and very elegant. 
Example 49. Skull of the Snow-Bunting (Plectrophanes nivalis). Family Emberizide. 
Group Oscines. 
Habitat. Great Britain. 
In this species the concavity of the rostrum, below, is reduced to two submedian, 
widish, shallow channels, divided by a ridge which ends in a median spur (Plate XLIX. 
fig. 7). This spur is seen in the other species (figs. 5 & 6), and it forms an exact 
floor to the “‘ recurrent lamina.” 
The palatine, on the whole, differs but little from that of F. citrinella; but it diverges 
more to the transpalatine spike, and is not so steep. The lower lamina of the isthmus 
is narrower, and runs into larger interpalatines; the ethmo-palatine coils are thin and 
dentate (fig. 7, i.pa, e.pa). The prepalatal bars converge more, and are broader and 
more lathy; they carry a palato-maxillary, which is intermediate in size between that 
of the last two instances; it is attached by a sort of “callus” of bone, by most of its 
anterior half (the point is free), to the preepalatine bar. The maxillary (ma’) has an 
unusual breadth in front of its jugal process; and its maxillo-palatine process (map) 
is flatter than in E. citrinella, broader than in £. miliaria, and is scarcely pneumatic. 
The vomer (v) is almost oblong; its sides descend asa steep ridge, asin EL. citrinella; 
its under face is gently convex, answering to the gently concave upperside; its crura 
are broad, and their interspace scarcely twice as long as the notch in front. 
Where the septo-maxillary should appear (most probably it has been ankylosed), 
there is, on the side of each thick yomerine cornu, a large pneumatic opening. 
Just the “ foot ” of the inturned alinasal lamina (¢. a/) has received bony matter. The 
chink for the first and nasal nerves is continuous on the left side; but on the right 
a lobe from the pars plana has converted it into two separate foramina. 
Example 50. Skull of Phrygilus fruticeti. Family Emberizide. Group Oscines. 
Habitat. Chili. 
I have provisionally placed this type amongst the Emberizide; it is equally 
distinct from the typical Finches, is not a member of the Cardinal family, and does not 
differ more from Plectrophanes nivalis than that species does from Emberiza miliaria. 
