124 DR. R. W. SHUFELDT ON THE [Feb. 3, 



is constrained to say that, " Thus in the large series of types whicli 

 I have determined to compare together, it has seemed fit to me to 

 take a very small territory ; yet that territory contains parts that 

 have undergone the greatest amount of metamorphosis of any in the 

 whole body of a high and noble vertebrate, and moreover being, in 

 the bird, the skeletal framework of the whole upper face, these 

 parts are, as it were, an index of the amount of specialization under- 

 gone by any particular type — the ruling determining structures that 

 lead to all, and really demand ali, the changes that take place in the 

 rest of the organism. This is especially explained for the benefit of 

 those who will accuse me, and have already accused Professor Huxley, 

 of taking a narrow view of the Bird-types — touching with the point 

 of a needle some little tract, but unacquainted with and not able to 

 appreciate the Bird as a whole." 



After long thought and, as stated above, after many dissections 

 of Woodpeckers of various genera, the writer is led to believe in 

 regard to this question that — (1) The Pici are peculiar in regard to 

 certain osseous structures of the cranium, hut inasmuch as all the rest 

 of their organization exhibits a high order of specialization, nearly 

 equalling some of the highest among bh'ds, these few characters must 

 not be considered as being the representatives of the corresponding 

 parts, in structure and arrangement, as found among some Lizards. 

 We have abundant evidence of the Reptilian origin of birds without 

 damaging this evidence by straining such points as these. 



(2) That inasmuch as the vomer in all adult birds, even in the 

 Ostrich-types, is single and median, the " medio-palatine " of Parker 

 must be considered the vomer of the Pici. And when other small, 

 median ossifications are found along in the line of the vomer, when 

 the latter is present, they are simply adventitious ossicles occurring 

 in the soft, membranous medio-septa of these vertebrates ; such 

 structures are occasionally seen in certain Hawks and Owls, 



(3) That the processes designated as the vomers of the Pici by 

 Professor Parker are merely apophysial outgrowths of the mesial 

 borders of the palatines, and as the palatines are paired bones in 

 AvES, we cannot conceive of such a structure in them as a " medio- 

 palatine." 



(4) That they are not desmognathous means nothing in a saurian 

 sense, for even among the so-called Desmognathse, Mlanus is a non- 

 desmognathous bird ; and that the " maxillo-palatines " are but 

 little developed in the Pici, applies also with almost equal truth to 

 the Trochili, where we find them much reduced. 



(.5) That the fact that the basipterygoid processes are arrested 

 would not especially entitle them to be called a saurognathous group. 

 We see the same in some Accipitres, and they are functional in the 

 Owls and other highly organized birds. 



(6) That we do not believe that the pterygoid of a Woodpecker 

 in any way especially answers to that bone in a Snake or a Lizard, 

 any more than does the pterygoid of any other highly specialized 

 bird. x\nd further, that some of the peculiarities of the Pici may be 

 due to the fact that these birds have long used their bills to strike 



