618 SHUFELDT—OSTEOLOGY OF THE WOODPECKERS.  [0ct.5, 
three ungual joints are powerfully developed. So far as the 
number of joints is concerned they range as in the Passeres, 
normally—z. e., two, three, four and five for first, second, 
third and fourth digits respectively—the anterior toes having three 
(inner) and four (outer) joints devoted to them, while the pos- 
terior ones have two (inner) and five (outer), thus showing the 
reversed toe to be the fourth of the typical avian pes. 
SUMMARY OF THE CHIEF OSTEOLOGICAL CHARACTERS OF THE 
NortH AMERICAN PIctI. 
1. Large but simple-scrolled turbinals; there may be a free 
turbinal. 
2. Bulging of the frontal region over the transverse cranio- 
facial line may (Pcotdes) or may not (Colapées) exist. 
3. Generally the external cranial vault is more or less dented 
by the ends of the quills of the capital feathers. 
4. The interorbital septum is sometimes entire and sometimes 
shows a fenestra. 
5. Pars plana large, and often the os uncinatum is well de- 
veloped. 
6. Lacrymal usually vestigial in character. 
7. Quadrato-jugal aborted. 
8. Tympanic bulle cowrie-shell-shaped and otherwise peculiar. 
g. A large spur on the upper side of either pterygoid for mus- 
cular attachment. 
1o. A median, dagger-shaped vomer sometimes present, but 
sometimes absent. 
11. Maxillo-palatines rounded lamina and very much aborted. 
12. A more or less imperfect nasal septum usually present. 
13. Vestigial basipterygoidal processes are distinctly developed 
in some species. 
14. As ossification advances in the palatines it may be charac- 
terized as being ‘‘ragged’’ along the antero-mesial and antero- 
external margins of these bones. This often leaves little osseous 
islets not absorbed, a few of which may persist here and there 
throughout the life of the individual. 
15. Either palatine is characterized by possessing an ‘‘ inter- 
palatine spine,’’ or process, and this may be continued forward to 
fuse with the mesial border of the bone by its free tip. Either pala- 
tine also possesses a palatine spur springing from the anterior point 
