79 Hesperornis, Shufeldt 



er of an Ostrich. * (See Plate 2.) 



In Gavia immer the two halves of the single, median vomer 

 are easily broken apart, and each part might easily be mis- 

 taken for a single vomer. Marsh's figures of "vomers" of Hes- 

 perornis are evidently the halves of a single, median, vomerine 

 ossification. ("Odontornithes," PI. II, fig's 8, 8a) 



In restoring the lacrymals, I have followed Marsh's fig- 

 ures and description ; he says : "The lachrymal bone is distinct, 

 and articulates with the frontal, nasal, and maxillary. "( Loc. cit., 

 p. 7.) (See fig. 1, 1.) 



Massing to the palatines (fig's 1 and 2, PI. II), Marsh says of 

 them that they "resemble those of the Ostrich. They are long, 

 slender bones, extending from their union with the pterygoids, 

 parallel with the axis of the skull, and joining the premaxillaries. 

 In one specimen they nearly lie in position, the left palatine be- 

 ing immediately beneath the left maxillary. In front of their 

 junction with the pterygoid, and just anterior to their widest ex- 

 pansion, there is a deep pocket, very similar to that in the pala- 

 tine of the Ostrich. The anterior half of the bone is slender and 

 tapers gradually to the extremity." {Loc. cit., p. 7.) 



The "pocket" Marsh refers to would probably not be in 

 view upon basal aspect of the cranium any more than it is in the 

 Ostrich. Such a. fossa in the palatine is found in a number of the 

 Pygopodes, and even exists in the Grebes (Podiceps cris talus, No. 

 18,295, Coll. U. S. Nat. Mus.). The palatines of Hesperomis in 

 no way whatever resembled those bones as we find them in the 

 Ostriches, as any one will appreciate upon comparing them in 

 Pis. 1 and 2 of the present article. 



Indeed, no two birds' skulls, either of existing or extinct spe- 



Garrod, A. H. : "Notes on some of the Cranial Pecularities of the Wood- 

 peckers." Ibis, Oct., 1872, pp. 2)67-70. 



Shufeldt, R. W. : "On the Question of Saurognathism of the Pici, and 

 and other Osteological Notes upon that Group." P. Z. S., London, pi. 

 1, Feb. 3, 189/, pp. 122-129. 



*Huxley, T. H. : loc. cit. ; figs. 1 and 2, pp. 420 - 421. Excellent cuts 

 of the basal views of the skulls of Struthio camelus and Rhea ameri- 

 cana are given here. While the vomers in these Ratite birds are ver}' 

 different from each other, they do agree in some particulars. 



