508 ME. W. K. PAEKER ON THE OSTEOLOGY OF THE KAGU. 



but in the Pso])Ma and Eunjpyga this angle is a very delicate style : in the latter the 

 premaxillary angle also is continued over the zygoma as a very slender needle of bone. 

 The vomer (fig. 2) is a vei7 long, delicate style in these three aberrant types ; it comes 

 very near to that of Talegalla, but is longer. The posterior third is bifurcate ; it then 

 becomes deeply grooved abo^'e, and sharply carinate below, and is bowed upwards : 

 this middle part lies between the interpalatine portion of the maxillaries. The anterior 

 third then descends and becomes broader, as in the Chelonians ; but what is gained in 

 depth is lost in height, and the fore part is a very slender needle of bone. In the 

 Pno^'Jiia the vomer is split halfway ; and the edges of the basifacial groove are thickened 

 and denticulate, as in the Heron ; so they are in the Eurypyga, which, however, in other 

 respects has a vomer almost the exact counterpart of that of the Kagu, — save that it is 

 still more exquisitely slender, and elongate in front. As to the upper and lateral facial 

 splints the Kagu and the Ettrypyga agree very closely. The nasals (fig. 1) are very 

 sharply split, the clean fissure between the upper and ascending ramus turning inwards 

 between the lacrymals abo\c. The nasals reach half an inch further backwards than the 

 nasal part of the premaxillaries in the Kagu, and are as thick and cellular as the frontals 

 where they coalesce with those bones. The upper crus of the nasal runs forwards three- 

 fourths of the distance to the fore end of the nasal fossa ; the descending crus is sharp 

 below, and is strongly interwedged between the maxillary and premaxillary. Thus this 

 part of the face is thoroughly Gruine in both the Eurypyga and the Kagu ; the long, 

 open nasal fossa, so sharp above at the bifurcation of the nasals, gives a character to the 

 face common to large groups of Grallae and Palmipeds (see my figure of the Lapwing's 

 skull. Trans. Zool. Soc. 1864, vol. v. pi. 37. fig. 3, m,jw)- I" the Rallidm the nasal 

 fossa is semioval, and so it is in the Psophia ; but in it the division of the nasal, whilst 

 equally obtuse and rounded, yet helps to form a much shorter nasal fossa, like that of 

 the young of a typical Raptorial bird, before the ossification of the alinasal cartilages : 

 in that aberrant ^tomorp)h the Cariama, this open condition of the nasal fossa is per- 

 sistent, but somewhat occluded by the bony " anterior alinasal bridge." The lacrymal 

 (figs. 1 & 3) of the Kagu agrees with that of the Eurypyga, save that in the latter the 

 bifurcated descending part is slenderer and is fenestrate, whilst in the Kagu it is cellular. 

 They both differ from Grus in having the superorbital part' not more developed outwards 

 and backwards than in the Night-Heron ; these bones keep distinct, as in the Cranes and 

 Rails. The lacrymal of Psophia is larger and thicker, and is greatly clubbed below ; 

 but the most remarkable thing in the Psophia is, that the lacrymal (preorbital) is followed 

 by a chain of 5-7 free superorbitals, like those of the Tinamous (see Trans. Zool. Soc. 

 vol. V. pi. 40 ; and Phil. Trans. \o\. chi. pi. 15). This cropping-up again of what the 

 Tinamou had adopted from the Reptile is very interesting, and is not the only character 

 by which these two birds may be connected. In the Psophia the anterior frontal 

 region is swollen and cellular, somewhat approaching to what is seen in the Coot 



' A separate hone in the Lizard. 



