164 ■ MR. W. K. PARKER ON THE OSTEOLOGY 



downwards from the process that embraces the skull-base. The vomer is altogether 

 better developed than in the " GaUinae," and is indeed exactly intermediate between 

 that of the Fowl and the Rail. 



The mandibles of Talegalla are strictly Gallinaceous, and yet the internal angular 

 process is thicker and more clubbed ; the posterior or external angular process is 

 shorter, broader, and less falcate : here again we see a falling-ofF from the type. 

 The OS hyoides — the greater part of the skeleton of the last poststomal, and the first 

 postcephalic arch — is strictly typical. The arrested hyoid cornua are cartilaginous for 

 the anterior third and a little behind ; they lie in the tongue : the basi-, uro-, and 

 double thyro-hyals have their tips cartilaginous, as in the Fowl. In the Rail, as in 

 most Grallae and many Palmipeds, the " cornua minora " do not ossify, and are not 

 so divergent ; for the rest, the bones are feebler and less ossified even than in the 

 Talegalla and the Fowl. 



1 shall not go so much into detail in describing the osteology of the body of Tale- 

 galla ; for, in the first place, those modifications of structure which indicate the 

 curious affinities of outlying and aberrant groups of birds often cluster most within the 

 cephalic structures ; and secondly, I wish to do something to extend the knowledge 

 of this most important branch of animal morphology the structure of the skull : at 

 present the unknown is a forest, the known a very inconsiderable clearing. 



The skeleton of the Talegalla has only one rival as to massive strength and the 

 coarseness of its bony tissue, viz. the Apleryx. It is the Mylodon robustus of the bird- 

 class ; and on examining it for the fiftieth time it strikes the observer with fresh sur- 

 prise. The bones of one hinder extremity of a female, very dry and nearly free from 

 oil, weigh as much as the entire skull and jaws together of both the Flamingo and the 

 Sacred Ibis, viz. 5 drachms, 15 grains. The bones of one hinder extremity of the Great 

 Toucan weigh 1 drachm, 4 grains, or one-fifth of the weight of those of the Talegalla. 

 The entire skull and jaws of Ramphastos toco weigh 2 drachms, 55 grains ; those of 

 Buceros ruficollis (foem.) weigh 3 drachms, the rest of its skeleton 1 1 drs. 1 scruple, — 

 the total skeleton of this large bird only weighing 14 drs. 1 scr., or less than two " troy " 

 ounces, and less than three times the weight of the bones of one leg of the Talegalla. 



Mr. Bartlett informs me that the huge eggs of the Talegalla are, as in the Crocodile, 

 a long while incubating, and that the young bird is fully fledged before it is hatched. 

 This is in striking conformity with the fact that the massive limb-bones are practically 

 solid ; for I find it impossible to insert even very fine wire along the shaft of the bones. 

 The humerus and the os femoris, thick as they are, contain air, the pneumatic passages 

 being merely like pin-holes. The bones of the legs and wings are perfectly Gallinaceous 

 in character, with all the unshapeliness of a Fowl's bones exaggerated and as it were in 

 caricature. The toe-bones correspond with the rest, and the terminal joints are covered 

 with mighty claws, averaging an inch in length. The length of these claws made 

 Swainson think that he had found a most absurd kind of bird, a " Rasorial Vulture " ! 



