488 DR. R. W. SHUFELDT ON [NoV. 16, 



consider how greatly the Gallinse differ among themselves in this 

 part of their structure. So whatever affinities Geococcyx may have 

 •with this group, it is not evident in the form assumed by its trachea 

 nor in the musculature of the lower larynx. 



Of the Tongue. 



My memoir upon the skeleton of this bird contains an illustration 

 of the hyoid arches as they are found in it (Journ. of Anat., Jan. 

 1886, pi. viii. fig. 8), and here it will be of interest to show the 

 form of the tongue itself. 



It will be seen from the figure of this organ (Plate XLIII. fig. 1) 

 that its tip is rounded, and that its anterior moiety is ensheathed in 

 a horny theca of a jet-black colour ; the posterior half, however, is 

 soft and fleshy, with its lateral margins fringed with delicate fleshy 

 spines of a pure white colour and directed backwards. 



From above downwards it is somewhat compressed, while its form 

 as a whole is that of an isosceles triangle the base of which is rather 

 less than one third of a side, and which exhibits a deep angular 

 notch. 



The lateral margins of the superior larynx are smooth and sharp, 

 while its hinder edge supports a spiue-like fringe, very similar to 

 the one found on the borders of the posterior moiety of the tongue. 

 Immediately back of this we observe the large and capacious 

 entrance to the gullet, a feature which I have also included in my 

 illustration of the parts under consideration. 



The delicate, backward-extending limbs of the hyoidean apparatus 

 curve up but very slightly behind the cranium in this Ground- 

 Cuckoo. 



Of the Ossiculum lacrymo-palatinum. 



Careful search was made for this ossicle in my specimen of 

 Geococcyx, both orbits being included in the examination, but I am 

 confident that no such bone is found in it. This bonelet was first 

 described by Brandt, and is best seen in certain Albatrosses, and I 

 have elsewhere described its location and appearance in Diomedea 

 Irachyura. 



According to Forbes, " it also occurs in forms so different from 

 these as the Musophagidse, many Cuculidse, Chunga and Cariama, 

 as well as in some Laridse and Alcid^, so that its presence is obviously 

 of no particular taxonomic value" (Coll. Mem. p. 415). 



It was this account of its occurrence in certain Cuculidse that 

 incited me to search for it in our present subject, but, as I have said, 

 it does not possess it. 



In birds where it exists it is represented, when thoroughly 

 ossified, by a delicate styliform bar connecting the descending limb 

 of the lacrymal bone with the upper surface of the palatine. 



Conclusions. 

 By the aid of the researches of Garrod and Forbes into the 



