ME. W. K. PAEKEK ON THE OSTEOLOGY OF THE KAGU, 509 



and the Palamedea; but in the Eunjpijga and the Kagii (PI. XC. fig. 1) this part is 

 gently concave. 



There is nothing to remark upon in the slender jugal and quadrato-jugal (figs. 1—3), 

 save that they coalesce in some degree, as in the Stanley Crane. 



The palatines of the Kagu are very noteworthy; they are very steep, forming an 

 acute angle with the cranio-facial axis, and are sharply keeled (PI. XCII. figs. 2, 3). 

 The pointed anterior portion has coalesced with the maxillary and palatine plate of the 

 premaxillaiy ; this part is nearly horizontal. The next part, on each side of the maxillo- 

 palatine plates, however, is oblique, and is twice as broad. Above the junction of the 

 middle and hinder portion there is a very large " orbital plate" (fig. 3) ; it is a low triangle 

 in outline, and is convex on its outer side, curling inwards towards the " parasphenoidal 

 rostrum." This orbital plate is in relation in front with the posterior margin of the 

 " posterior septo-maxillary lobe," and above with the vomerine fork of the same side. 

 The hinder part of the palatine is very steep ; it is rather thin, but strong : there is a 

 small submesial keel (fig. 2) growing from the basicranial edge of the bone, and a 

 larger outer keel : both these keels send backwards a retral process ; and that of the 

 outer keel belongs to the " transpalatine " region. This region is also indicated by a 

 small "fenestra" (fig. 2). The oblong condyle at the end of the palatine, and much of 

 the basicranial edge, posteriorly, is formed by the once distinct " mesopterygoid," a 

 strong wedge of bone with its sharp end forwards. In the Eurypyga these characters are 

 repeated in a somewhat softened form ; but the fenestra? marking the distinction into a 

 palatine and a transpalatine plate are larger, and there are one or two additional spaces, 

 as is the wont of these arrested clefts. These fenestra have the highest development 

 in Tigrisoma leucolophum, but they occur in other Ardeinee and in the long-billed 

 Pluvialines. 



In Psophia the transpalatine angles are more rounded, the keels are less sharp, the 

 bones are less steep, and there are no fenestrse ; altogether it comes much nearer the 

 typical Gruinse, whilst in the Kagu they are very Ardeine, the nearest form being 

 Nycticorax. 



The pterygoids (PI. XCII. figs. 2 & 3) are typically Gruine ; they are small, and rather 

 slender, flattened anteriorly, with a keeled outer edge, a scooped under surface, and the 

 posterior third compressed, with a rounded upper and lower edge. The anterior con- 

 dyle is subconvex and three-sided ; the posterior is a round, shallow cup, surmounted by 

 a small, obtuse, " epipterygoid " process, the counterpart of the columelliform epiptery- 

 goid of the Lizard. 



The Kagu comes very close to the typical Cranes (and also to the Herons) in its os 

 quadratum (PI. XCII. figs. 2, 8) ; the two neat rounded upper condyles are far apart, and 

 the inner is scarcely behind the outer. The metapteiygoid process is bowed out and 

 broad, the free terminal part being somewhat pedate. This bone is broad at its nar- 



