448 PROF. HUXLEY ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. [Apr. 1 1 , 



In Merops the long and slender palatines are devoid of any postero- 

 external elongations. The maxillo-palatines are slender and ex- 

 panded at the end, as in Passerine birds, but they unite in the middle 

 line with one another and with the ossified septum. As the vomer 

 was absent in the specimen examined, I presume it to have been 

 small and slender. 



Coracias has the vomer exceedingly attenuated ; and there are no 

 basipterygoid processes. The spongy maxillo-palatines unite and 

 form a thick transverse bar across the palate. 



Eurystomus resembles Coracias, but has broader palatines. 



It will be observed that all the genera of Birds which have been 

 mentioned after the Parrots have their palates constructed upon the 

 same principle as the Cuckoos. With one exception, basipter^'goid 

 processes are absent. The maxillo-palatines are united with one 

 another, or with the ossified septum, or with both. The vomer is 

 rudimentary, very small, and readily detached. 



In Picus viridis there are no basipterygoid processes. Each pa- 

 latine bone is flat and obliquely truncated posteriorly, the postero- 

 external angles not being produced. An elongated oval foramen, 

 filled by membrane in the fresh state, occupies the middle third of 

 its inner moiety, and is bounded, in front and internally, by a very 

 slender bar of bone (fig. 30, c). This bar is continuous with the 

 palatine by its anterior end. Posteriorly, in some specimens, it 

 appears to be continued directly into the ascending process of the 

 palatine ; but in one example I find it to terminate in a pointed end ; 

 and the slender bar which corresponds with its apparent continua- 

 tion in other specimens, is a perfectly distinct ossicle {Vo, fig. 30). 



Fig. 30. 



The palate of Picns viridis. 



The ossified septum, h. The transverse bar of bone connected witli it. 

 Vo. The ossicles which probably represent the vomers. Fma; Mx2}, PI, *, 

 as before. 



