254 PROFESSOR W. K. PAEKEB ON THE 



and one third larger than Euphonia violacea, is intermediate in character between the 

 two. It shows, in a charming manner, that subgeneric modifications of the outer bird 

 are correlated with, or attended by, changes of structure in the most fundamental ske- 

 letal parts. 



The palatines are feebler than in Tanagra, and the transpalatine spike {t.pa) straighter 

 and more slender. The interpalatine spike {i.2)o) is well developed ; and the ethmo- 

 palatine laminae {e.pa) have a projecting process, and are thin and fenestrate. The thin, 

 lathy, palato-maxillary (p.mx) is larger and more distinct than in the other kinds already 

 described ; and the maxillo-palatine outgrowths {mx.p) are terminated by elegant, arcu- 

 ate, pneumatic " ladles " opening by a large, single, inferior mouth. 



The rest of the skull presents no important modification of what is seen in the genus 

 Tanagra. In these three specimens (of Tanagra, Euphonia, and Stephanophorus) the 

 " OS uncinatum " is not distinct. 



Example 31. Skull of Pyranga rubra. Fam. Tanagridse. 



Habitat. South America, 



This type is introduced to show the presence of the palato-maxillaiy (Plate XLVI. 

 fig. 5, p.mx) in another (fourth) genus of the " Tanagridae ; " it is confluent, however, 

 with the prsemaxillary in my specimen. 



Example 32. Skull of Prionochilus aureo-limbatus. Fam. Nectariniidae. 



Habitat. Celebes. 



I give the family of this elegant little conirostral bird on the authority of my friend 

 Mr. Salvin. However that family (the Nectariniidae) may differ from the Tanagridae 

 in external characters, osteologically they interblend. 



The palate (Plate XLVI. fig. 6) shows nothing that is not Tanagrine in its modifica- 

 tions ; and this bird coming from the very equator, it is of the greatest interest to find 

 how close is its correspondence in cranial structure with the members of that family, 

 whose home is the Western Notogaea. It is only one, however, among the many in- 

 stances to be noted. 



The bony framework of the palate here attains its utmost degree of delicacy : no 

 Warbler or Sylviine type shows this more. The depth of the postpalatine keels (figs. 

 6 & 7, pt.pa) is here at its greatest ; and the trans- and prsepalatine regions are mere 

 needles of bone ; the isthmus connecting these, where they meet, -with the inter- and 

 ethmo-palatine regions is very narrow {i.pa, e.pa). The half-coiled ethmo-palatine is 

 quite confluent with the corresponding vomerine crus {v), although my specimen is the 

 skull of a young bird. The proof of this lies in the perfect distinctness of the meso- 

 pterygoid wedge (ms.^j^). No air-cell has, as yet, appeared in the maxillo-palatine 

 {inx.f). The vomer is perfectly Tanagrine : it is emarginate ; for the osseous matter has 



