166 



MEMOIRS OP THE CARNEGIE MUSEUM 



spicillatus, Pallas's Cormorant, given b}^ Mr. F. A. Lucas in the Proceedings 

 of that institution for 1889 (pp. 88-94), also other material and figures by the 

 same author. 



When we regard the skull of P. urile from above, we observe that the cranium 

 is very flat, and, across the parietal region, broad. Indeed, though large, the brain- 



st,o 



Fia. 12. Left lateral view of the skull of Phnlacrocorax urile; nat. size. By tbe author, from a specimen in the 

 Smithsonian Institution, si. o., the occipital style. (See also Plate XXIV., Fig. 15. ) 



cavity is vertically compressed, and this is one of the first things to attract our 

 attention as we examine the skull of this Cormorant. Between the sharp superior 

 edges of the orbits the frontal region measures transversely about a centimeter, and 

 this too is the average width of the not very mobile cranio-facial hinge. A broad- 

 ish, shallow, longitudinal groove traverses the fronto-parietal region, and the well- 

 marked crotaphyte fossae fail quite to meet on top of the prominent, convex occip- 

 ital elevation. The occipital line and crest are very sharp and ridge-like, and a 

 free, osseous, occiiJital style, over a centimeter and a half long, articulates at a median 

 point a short distance above the large foramen magnum, where these lines and 

 crests meet. This style is distally pointed, has sharp supero-median and lateral 

 borders, which give rise to supero-lateral surfaces intended for the attachment, on 

 either side, of the posterior part of the temporal muscle. (See Fig. 12.) 



The upper bony beak is somewhat broad at its base ; is slightly longer than the 

 cranium ; narrow for its anterior half ; edges semi-cultrate ; very moderately decurved 

 at the end ; culmen broadly convex from side to side ; flat beneath ; external narial 

 apertures absent. A groove passes down upon either side, which is deepest at those 

 sites where nostrils occur in most birds that have them. There is a minute foramen 

 on either side, communicating with the rhinal chamber. The lateral processes of the 

 cranium are almost entirely aborted, and the orbital cavity behind freely opens into 

 the cranio-zygomatic space, and the cranial wall here is bulging, smooth, and con- 

 vex. At the occiput the usual processes are fairly well developed, and the quadrato- 

 mandibular articulation, on either side, is located far posteriorly as in an alligator. 



