MR. W. K. PARKER ON THE OSTEOLOGY OF THE KAGU, 509 
and the Palamedea; but in the Ewrypyga and the Kagu (PI. XC. fig. 1) this part is 
gently concave. 
There is nothing to remark upon in the slender jugal and quadrato-jugal (figs. 1-3), 
save that they coalesce in some degree, as in the Stanley Crane. 
The palatines of the Kagu are very noteworthy; they are very steep, forming an 
acute angle with the cranio-facial axis, and are sharply keeled (Pl. XCII. figs. 2, 3). 
The pointed anterior portion has coalesced with the maxillary and palatine plate of the 
premaxillary ; this part is nearly horizontal. The next part, on each side of the maxillo- 
palatine plates, however, is oblique, and is twice as broad. Above the junction of the 
middle and hinder portion there is a very large “ orbital plate” (fig. 3); it is a low triangle 
in outline, and is convex on its outer side, curling inwards towards the ‘“ parasphenoidal 
rostrum.” This orbital plate is in relation in front with the posterior margin of the 
“ posterior septo-maxillary lobe,” and above with the vomerine fork of the same side. 
The hinder part of the palatine is very steep; it is rather thin, but strong: there is a 
small submesial keel (fig. 2) growing from the basicranial edge of the bone, and a 
larger outer keel: both these keels send backwards a retral process; and that of the 
outer keel belongs to the “transpalatine” region. This region is also indicated by a 
small “ fenestra” (fig. 2). The oblong condyle at the end of the palatine, and much of 
the basicranial edge, posteriorly, is formed by the once distinct “ mesopterygoid,” a 
strong wedge of bone with its sharp end forwards. In the Hwrypyga these characters are 
repeated in a somewhat softened form; but the fenestree marking the distinction into a 
palatine and a transpalatine plate are larger, and there are one or two additional spaces, 
as is the wont of these arrested clefts. . These fenestree have the highest development 
in Tigrisoma leucolophum, but they occur in other Ardeine and in the long-billed 
Pluyialines. 
In Psophia the transpalatine angles are more rounded, the keels are less sharp, the 
bones are less steep, and there are no fenestre; altogether it comes much nearer the 
typical Gruine, whilst in the Kagu they are very Ardeine, the nearest form being 
Nycticorax. 
The pterygoids (Pl. XCII. figs. 2 & 3) are typically Gruine; they are small, and rather 
slender, flattened anteriorly, with a keeled outer edge, a scooped under surface, and the 
posterior third compressed, with a rounded upper and lower edge. ‘The anterior con- 
dyle is subconvex and three-sided ; the posterior is a round, shallow cup, surmounted by 
a small, obtuse, “ epipterygoid” process, the counterpart of the columelliform epiptery- 
goid of the Lizard. 
The Kagu comes very close to the typical Cranes (and also to the Herons) in its os 
quadratuin (Pl. XCII. figs. 2,3); the two neat rounded upper condyles are far apart, and 
the inner is scarcely behind the outer. The metapterygoid process is bowed out and 
broad, the free terminal part being somewhat pedate. This bone is broad at its nar- 
