1891.] OSTEOLOGY OF THE UNITED STATES COLUMBID^. 195 



types, such as have been described by the Newtons, by the Parkers, 

 by Fiirbringer, and by many others \ 



So liar as I have examined them, then, I find the Pigeons of this 

 country to be : — 



1. Completely schizognathous birds; and with elongated narial 



apertures in the skull, which are not separated by an osseous 

 septum nasi. 



2. A large lacrymal bone is present, which fuses extensively with 



the pars plana, thus forming an unbroken plate. 



3. With large vacuities in the anterior wall of the brain-case, the 



lower one of which merges with a big one in the interorbital 

 septum. 



4. Zygoma very slender. 



5. Basipterygoid processes present, which may (in all save 



Ectopistes ?) or may not articulate with the short pterygoids ; 

 the latter not in contact in the middle line anteriorly. 



6. Palatines very slender, with their laminte somewhat reduced, 



and with their postero-external angles completely rounded off. 



7. Maxillo-palatines antero-posteriorly elongated, internally 



spongy, and fused with the prepalatines, the maxillary, and 

 the premaxillary. 



8. The premaxillary process of the nasal bone carried far forwards, 



beneath the osseous culmen. 



9. Sphenoidal rostrum sharp in front, thick and rounded behind. 



10. Vomer may or may not be present (?). Huxley figures the 



palate of Columba palumbus, and says " the vomer is very 

 slender" (P. Z. S. 1867, p. 434) ; Parker says the Pigeons 

 are without a vomer. 



11. Quadrates typically ornithic, and with two transversely dis- 

 posed facettes for articulation with mandible. 



12. Mandible V-shaped, its symphysis short and feeble ; arti- 



culatory ends transversely truncated posteriorly, from above, 

 downwards and forwards ; ramal vacuity may {Ectopistes) 

 or may not {Starncenas) be present. 



13. Eighteen {Ectopistes) or nineteen {Starncenas) vertebrae in 

 the spinal column between the skull and pelvis. Three 

 leading dorsal vertebrae fuse together to form one bone 

 {Ectopistes), and with it may fuse the ultimate cervical 

 {Melopelia). Five {Starncenas) or six {Ectopistes) free 

 caudal vertebrae. A good-sized pygostyle present. Pelvis 

 broad and shallow ; no prepubic spine present. 



14. Os furcula U-shaped ; without hypocleidium, and very 

 slender. 



1 To the U.S. National Museum, and to Mr. P. A. Lucas of that Institution, 

 I am indebted for the use of a skeleton of Ectopistes and one of Colmnbigallina 

 passerina ; one of the assistants also, Mr. SchoUick, has presented me with a 

 skeleton of the domesticated Pigeon known by the name of the "Archangel." 

 Mr. J. S. Singley of Giddings, Texas, has litewise forwarded me several valu- 

 able specimens. My private cabinet also contains numerous skeletons of our 

 various species of Columbida. 



13* 



