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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



the ethmoid is sometimes not overlapped at all at this point, but 

 is exposed as an escutcheon-shaped area of some considerable size. 1 

 The " maxillary processes " are thin and pointed, and extend 

 posterior to the point of meeting of the distal end of the nasal, on 

 either side. Between the narial apertures the premaxillary is very 

 narrow, and the osseous culmen formed by this bone presents a 

 double arch along its anterior two thirds; one over the nostrils, and 

 the other over the forepart of the beak [fig. 2]. These two curva- 

 tures are best seen in the skull of the hen bird. Anteriorly, the 



Fig. 1 Right lateral view of the skull of the common domestic fowl, and beneath it 

 the under view of the bones of the face (enlarged); mandible removed. La, lacrymal: 

 Vo, vomer; Na, nasal; Qu, quadrate; Pt, pterygoid; Ju, jugal; PI, palatine; Mx, max- 

 illary; Pin, premaxillary. This figure is introduced for the purpose of comparison of 

 the bones of the skull with those found in the skulls of the various wild fowls. Drawn 

 by the author and enlarged about one third. 



osseous superior mandible is rounded, while its lateral edges are 

 sharply cultrate, and beneath, for its forepart, it is much concaved, 

 as in most Gallinae. Either external narial aperture is very large 

 and of a subellipitical outline, though with the arc broader behind 

 than it is in front. No median, bony, internasal septum is developed 

 between these openings. In the skull of my female specimen the 

 nasofrontal sutures are completely obliterated, but they can be 

 faintly traced in the skull of the cock [fig. 3]. On the other hand, 



1 See W. K. Parker's figure [fig. 19] of the skull of common fowl in the 9th 

 edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica, volume 3, page 709, eth. 



