294 PEOFBSSOE W. K. PAEKEE ON THE 



gape, the isthmus is also broad ; and the lower or interpalatine lamina is of less extent 

 than the upper or ethmo-palatine (i.pa, e.pa) ; this latter is notched as it passes to the 

 crus of the vomer (?>). In the adult the interpalatine plate becomes convex below, 

 and fenestrate, and ends in a large, free, triangular spike. The long, lathy praepalatines 

 are wide apart, exposing a large nasal area; they run on the insides of the pointed 

 palatal processes of the praemaxillary {p-px). 



The solid part of the rostrum is short ; and so, relatively, for a bird, are the den- 

 tary and palatal processes (d.jn; p.px). Here, as compared with carinate birds gene- 

 rally, the face differs, as does that of a Salmon from that of a Carp or Perch ; for the 

 maxillary (d.mx) is no longer an inwardly placed " os mystaceum," but comes boldly to 

 the outside, with a large dentary edge. It runs into the lateral part of the praemax- 

 illary by two long splinters, and backwards almost to the quadrate, as in t\ie fissirostral 

 Batrachia. From the broad main part the maxillo-palatine process is given (inx.p) ; 

 and there the bone is excavated into a fenestra. The pedicle of this process is curved 

 backwards ; and its end is a hammer of bone, thick on its inner edge, but not hollow. 

 The maxillary forms a considerable angle before passing into the jugal process (_;', mx) 

 The long slender jugal reaches to the inner face of this part. 



The rostrum of the House-Martin is not at all feeble ; it is arched about half as 

 much as in Podargus, of which it is a pretty accurate miniature and isomorph. The 

 dentary part of the praemaxillary ends some distance in front of the angle of the max- 

 illary [d.px, d.mx), and is better seen above than below ; the palatal process is only 

 half its length. 



The vomer (y) is like that of a Lark (Plate L. fig. 9, v) — its outline being ox-face- 

 shaped, — subcarinate, with a double horn on each side running into the nasal wall (n. w) 

 and long bowed legs. In the adult the notch between the crura becomes sharper, the 

 body longer, and the nasal " horns," especially the inner or lower, much longer ; the 

 whole bone, indeed, becomes more typical and elegant. Yet even in the adult, but 

 more in the young, there is a very strong appearance of that tetramerous composition 

 which is seen in the less-fissirostral Flycatcher (Plate LII. fig. 9). 



The cranio-facial hinge is extremely mobile, the overlapping facial bones being re- 

 duced to the thinnest laths, and the septum nasi quite cut off from the perpendicular 

 ethmoid. The lateral ethmoid is like that of the Flycatcher, projecting moderately, 

 and has a pars plana with an excavated edge, a round foot, and no evident os 

 uncinatum. 



The nerves pass out of the orbit by thoroughly distinct foramina ; and the outer face 

 shows (in my specimens) no lacrymal. The nasal capsule, up to the ecto-ethmoid, 

 shows scarcely any calcification. 



