292 



ME. F. E. BEDDARD ON THE 



[Feb. 16, 



Brandt has pointed out that Fregata ', unlike other Steganopodes 

 but Hke certain Petrels &c., has an " ossiculum lacrymo-pala- 

 tinum." In the laerymal of one side of my specimen of Phaethon 

 I found a minute separate ossitieation at the end of that bone, 

 which may be regarded as the homologue of the os uneinatum as 

 it is termed by several authors. 



Fiff. 3. 



Phaethon : palatal aspect of skull. 

 Vo., vomer ; Mxp., maxillo-palatiues. 



The laerymal of Phaethon is more like that of Fregata than of 

 any other Steganopode, in that it is not ankylosed above with the 

 frontal. The skull of Phaethon, however, differs from that of Fre- 

 gata as of all Steganopodes in the pervious nostrils, in the absence 

 of a groove running from the nostril towards the end of the beak, 

 and in the presence of a considerable foramen towards the middle of 

 each ramus of the lower jaw, as in Otis, Eudromias, (Edicnemus, &c. 



So diiferent are the skull characters of Phaethon from those of 

 the typical Steganopodes, that, were it not for Fregata, the bird 



^ It may be mentioned (in a footnote, as not germane to the general argu- 

 ment) that Fregata possesses rudiments, ankylosed to the jugal, of the ossiculum 

 supra-jugale of the Cormorant and perhaps of Sula, noted in those Birds by 

 Brandt. 



