1899.J CBANIAL OSTEOLOGY OF THE PAEEOTS. 39 



scarce a perceptible interruption on to the upper border of the 

 squamosal. In Nymphicus, the inner head ot the quadrate is ill- 

 denned ; in Platyce7-cus it is separate but very small : in both the 

 shaft is slender, the anterior process very small, and the pterj'goid 

 condyle scarcely separate from the mandibular. 



rig. 40. 



Melopsittacus undulatus. 



In Melopsittacus we have a complete orbit, and furthermore a 

 bridge of bone crosses the temporal fossa, uniting the postfroutal pro- 

 cess to the squamosal, precisely as in the Cockatoos, though leaving 

 a proportionately small fenestra. The characters of the base of 

 the squamosal region, of the base of the skull, of the intraorbital 

 vacuity, and of tlie mandible resemble those of the other Platycer- 

 cince. The quadrate is very like that of Nymphicus. In the hyoid of 

 Melopsittaciis, by the way, the parahyal processes form an arch, 

 meeting together above the basihyal, precisely as Dr. Mivart has 

 shown in the case of the Lories. 



Recapitulation. 



Trom the foregoiiig facts it seems to me easy to draw certain 

 interesting conclusions, tliough many questions are still left 

 imperfectly answered. In the first place, the isolation of Nestor- is 

 very evident. The whole character of the squamosal and auditory 

 region of the skull is unique, and iinapproached in any other Parrot. 

 The great size of the intraorbital vacuity and of the mandibular 

 fenestra, the shape of the quadrate, as well as the more obvious 

 peculiarities in the shape of the beak and mandible, all distinguish 

 the skull at a glance. There is no osteological ground for allying 

 Nestor with the Lories as in Dr. Gadow's scheme, any more than 

 with Psittacus and Ara as in Garrod's. Its right to constitute a 

 separate family as instituted by Salvadori seems perfectly clear, and 

 indeed Prof. Newton (Diet, of Birds, p. 629) has already remarked 

 that Salvadori's view "is fully justified by a cursory examination 

 of its osteology." 



Though less striking at a glance, the cranial peculiarities of 

 Stringojjs are certainly no less important. I am inclined to attach 

 high importance to the characters of the quadrate bone, in which, 

 as I have shown above, the short thick shaft, the large broad 

 anterior process, the great ridge bearing the jugal cup, and the 

 position of the pterygoid condyle, widely separate from tlie mandi- 

 bular articular surface, are all unique among the Parrots, in all the 



