508 MR. W. K. PARKER ON THE OSTEOLOGY OF THE KAGU. 
but in the Psophia and Eurypyga this angle is a very delicate style: in the latter the 
premaxillary angle also is continued over the zygoma as a very slender needle of bone. 
The vomer (fig. 2) is a very long, delicate style in these three aberrant types; it comes 
very near to that of Talegalla, but is longer. The posterior third is bifurcate; it then 
becomes deeply grooved above, and sharply carinate below, and is bowed upwards: 
this middle part lies between the interpalatine portion of the maxillaries. The anterior 
third then descends and becomes broader, as in the Chelonians; but what is gained in 
depth is lost in height, and the fore part is a very slender needle of bone. In the 
Psophia the vomer is split halfway ; and the edges of the basifacial groove are thickened 
and denticulate, as in the Heron; so they are in the Ewrypyga, which, however, in other 
respects has a vomer almost the exact counterpart of that of the Kagu,—save that it is 
still more exquisitely slender, and elongate in front. As to the upper and lateral facial 
splints the Kagu and the Ewrypyga agree very closely. The nasals (fig. 1) are very 
sharply split, the clean fissure between the upper and ascending ramus turning inwards 
between the lacrymals above. The nasals reach half an inch further backwards than the 
nasal part of the premaxillaries in the Kagu, and are as thick and cellular as the frontals 
where they coalesce with those bones. The upper crus of the nasal runs forwards three- 
fourths of the distance to the fore end of the nasal fossa; the descending crus is sharp 
below, and is strongly interwedged between the maxillary and premaxillary. Thus this 
part of the face is thoroughly Gruine in both the Ewrypyga and the Kagu; the long, 
open nasal fossa, so sharp above at the bifurcation of the nasals, gives a character to the 
face common to large groups of Gralle and Palmipeds (see my figure of the Lapwing’s 
skull, Trans. Zool. Soc. 1864, vol. v. pl. 37. fig. 3,n, pa). In the Rallide the nasal 
fossa is semioval, and so it is in the Psophia; but in it the division of the nasal, whilst 
equally obtuse and rounded, yet helps to form a much shorte7 nasal fossa, like that of 
the young of a typical Raptorial bird, before the ossification of the alinasal cartilages: 
in that aberrant “tomorph the Cariama, this open condition of the nasal fossa is per- 
sistent, but somewhat occluded by the bony “anterior alinasal bridge.” The lacrymal 
(figs. 1 & 3) of the Kagu agrees with that of the Ewrypyga, save that in the latter the 
bifurcated descending part is slenderer and is fenestrate, whilst in the Kagu it is cellular. 
They both differ from Grus in having the superorbital part! not more developed outwards 
and backwards than in the Night-Heron; these bones keep distinct, as in the Cranes and 
Rails. The lacrymal of Psophia is larger and thicker, and is greatly clubbed below; 
but the most remarkable thing in the Psophia is, that the lacrymal (preorbital) is followed 
by a chain of 5-7 free superorbitals, like those of the Tinamous (see Trans. Zool. Soc. 
vol. vy. pl. 40; and Phil. Trans. vol. clvi. pl. 15). This cropping-up again of what the 
‘Tinamou had adopted from the Reptile is very interesting, and is not the only character 
by which these two birds may be connected. In the Psophia the anterior frontal 
region is swollen and cellular, somewhat approaching to what is seen in the Coot 
1 A separate bone in the Lizard. 
