324 PEOF. W. K. PAEKEE ON ^GITHOGNATHOUS BIEDS. 



My third example of these South -American " Dendrocolaptidee," is twice as large as 

 the others ; it is likest Muscisaxicola, and is of- great interest, inasmuch as it underlies 

 the Piping Crow, just as Grallaria underlies the Wood-.Swallow (^rtemiis). 



If this should seem to be fanciful, I would request the most imaginative believer in 

 sudden, separate creations, to compare the two as they have been drawn by me in PI. LX. 

 (figs. 1 & 5). 



Moreover, if the same grave doubter of the unity of Nature will supply me with the 

 ripe chick of a Piping Crow, I will promise to make a drawing of its palate that shall be 

 superimposable on that of Homorus, and the twin drawings shall, for lack of difference, 

 be undistinguishable. 



On the whole, this type comes very close to LendrocoJaptes ; and the first thing to be 

 remarked is, that beneath the metamorphosed apices of the trabeculse we come upon the 

 basipterygoid processes, springing from the basitemporal bones, as in Dendrocolaptes 

 (see Plate LX. fig. 1, and PI. LIX. fig. 1, M, bpg). 



The parasphenoidal rostrum {pa.s) is full behind, and narrows gently forwards ; it 

 scarcely projects below the hinge; the crest of the trabeculse is of moderate height, 

 below the interorbital fenestra. The septum nasi is well ossified, alate, and typical 

 (PI. LX. fig. 4, s.n); it is separated from the diminished front end of the meso-ethmoid 

 {p. e) by synchondrosis, as in Synallaxis (PI. LIX. fig. 8, s. n, p. e) ; so that the notch 

 is only half through the ethmo-sejital plate. The ossified septum sends its bony matter 

 along the well-marked recurrent lamina {re. c) ; and this process lying below the septal 

 subnasal alae {tr), a space is formed ; this is the well-known perforation of the ornithic 

 nostrils. Here the alinasal floor is large and unossified {n. f) ; and the wall (fig. 4, n. w) 

 is partly ossified behind. 



The alinasal and inferior turbinals are soft, or nearly so ; behind the flat part of the 

 septum, which is ossified — a true facial (trabecular) bone, there is a median ossicle, 

 one of the " septo-maxillary " series (figs. 2 & 4, m.s.mx) ; we shall find this bone in 

 the next higher type. The vomer (figs. 1. & 2, v), is of immense breadth in front, and 

 very spongy ; it soon narrows ; and its crura are compressed and wide apart. A point 

 of cartilage still unossified on the inner angle of the large upper lobe of the vomer 

 shows that here this bone largely owes its size to the vomerine cartilages {v. c) ; they 

 are also partly ossified by a pair of septo-maxillaries, which form large epiphyses to 

 the vomer (figs. 2 & .3, s.mx). The groove on the upper surface of the vomer is 

 narrowish and tolerably deep. In this type the alinasal turbinal is attached to the 

 large septo-maxillary ; and this kind of complete aegithognathism is of the first variety. 

 The ethmoidal region is wholly dendrocolaptine : the falcate pars plana {p. p) is widely 

 severed from the roof, and carries a seed-shaped " os uncinatum " (o. u) on its out- 

 turned extremity ; this, as we have seen, is an endo-skeletal element of the first or tra- 

 becular arch. 



The pterygo-palatine arch is true to the family character. The short, straight pteiy- 



