20 



PEOF. b'aECY \y. THOMPSON ON THK 



[Jan. 17, 



anterior process much larger and blunter, tlie \\hole Lody of the 

 bone more ex])auded, and the glenoid surface more elongate and 

 less curved. The pterygoid condyle is independent, and set about 

 LaltMay between the main condyle and the base of the anterior 

 process. The quadrato-jugal cup looks nearly forwards, and is 

 set on a powerful ridge of bone that forms a sharp free edge as 

 we lool< at it from the hinder or outer sides. Immediately below 

 the quadrato-jugal cup, on the underside of the ])rominent ridge, 

 is an articular facet which plays on a corresponding surface on the 

 edge of the mandible. The inner head of the quadrate bone is 

 comparalivel}^ large and imperfectly separated from the outer one. 

 The descending processes on the hinder border of the maxillte are 

 large. The usual mandibular fenestra is obsolete, but a small one 

 is present (represented in a good many other forms by a small 

 foramen) apparently between the articular and splenial elements. 

 I ha\e not seen a complete hyoid, and can ordy say that the para- 

 hyals are uncommonly large and point upwards. 



The skull of Stringops represented in fig. 9 is that of a young 

 or half-grown individual, in which the orbit is still incomplete. 

 The circumstance is natural enough, but it may serve to remind 

 us that the completeness or incompleteness of the orbit is not, 

 after all, a very deep-seated morphological difft-rence ; it is merely 

 a case of greater or less extension of ossification in a ligamentous 

 connection that is already there. 



Family Loeiid.5E. 



Dr. Mivart has lately gi\en us a copious description oi' the 

 skeleton of Lorius Jfavopalliatus. My account shall deal only with 

 the points that seem to me of chief importance. I have studied 

 four forms, Eos riciniata, Lorius chmicdla (fig. 11), Trkhoglossus 

 oniaias, and Glossoj>s{ttaci(s, sp. ; these are all so similar in iheir 

 main featiu'es that their descriptions may be iucorporated 

 together. 



Kg. n. 



Lorius domicella (slightly enlarged). 

 The postfrontal process is in all of them small, largest in Eos, 



and least in Lorius. 



It is in the form of a nearlv vertical ridge 



