4o0 PKOF. HUXLEY ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. [Apr. 1 



FijT. 31. 



Mri 



View (if tlic palate of Y/Ohr forqmlla (X ^)- The letters as before. 



slender, and the inner edge of each is augulated near its anterior ter- 

 mination. This angulation may represent the j)rocess c (tig. 30) in 

 Picus viridis. The maxillo-palatines are represented by mere ridges 

 on the inner side of the maxillee, bomiding a fossa. No ossification 

 of the septum remains in any of the skulls of Tuna' I have examined. 



I have discussed Picus and Yitn.v, in this place, because of the 

 general agreement among ornithologists that Picus and its allies are 

 closely related to the Cuckoos and other " Scansores." But it is 

 clear that nothing can be more different than the cranial structure 

 of the Picidce and that of any of the other "Scansores" and, indeed, 

 judging from the dry skull alone, the Woodpeckers are not even 

 desmognathous. But, as I have already hinted, a question of this 

 systematic importance cannot be finally settled without the careful 

 investigation of fresh specimens. 



IV. The remaining Carinatee have a palatine structure which is 

 in some respects intermediate between that of the Schizognathous 

 and that of the Desmognathous groups, while in others it is peculiar. 



This structure, which I term iEgithognathous, is well exemplified 

 by any of the typical Passerine Birds, as, for example, a Raven 

 (fig. 32). 



The vomer is a broad bone, abruptly trnncated in front, and deeply 

 cleft behind, embracing the rostrum of the sphenoid between its 

 forks. The palatines have produced postero-external angles. The 



