PALAMEDE^ 



455 



Chauna the lower pair of extrinsic muscles fan out upon the 

 aponeurosis of the lungs. 



There are eighteen cervical vertebrce in Palamedea unAin 

 Ch. chavaria, nineteen in Ch. derbiana. There are seven 

 complete ribs in Palamedea, eight in Chauna. The sternum, 

 which has one notch on either side, has neither external nor 

 internal spina. There are in neither genus any traces of 

 uncinate processes on the ribs, a 

 character which is unique among 

 living birds.i ^ 



The skull of the, Palamedeidse 

 has many anseM^-gharacteristicSj 

 which have been emphasised by 

 Parker, and perhaps rather too 

 lightly toup^ed upon by Garrod. 

 In their desmognathJ^ (which is 

 a complejie-^ftlsion) they are, of 

 courser^nserine, the form of the 

 maxillo-palatines most recalling 

 those of Mergus. The form of the 

 palatines is duck-like or gallina- 

 ceous in the rudimentary character 

 of the internal lamina, which is a 

 mere ridge. The pterygoids are 

 articulated to the large oval duck- 

 Hke basipterygoid processes, nearer 

 to their middle than is the case 

 with the Anseres. The lacrymals 

 are small, quite contrary to what 

 is found among the Anseres, 

 though the ectethmoids are not unlike those of the 

 latter group. The anterior part of the face, with the clear- 

 cut holorhinal nostrils and the hooked bill, is suggestive of 

 -Gariama or a gallinaceous bird ; it does not at least recall the 

 duck or goose. The interorbital septum is deficient in front, 



'"Not even a rudiment of these characteristically avian structures has, so far 

 as I am aware, been detected. 



Fig. 215. — Skull of Chauna 

 derbiana. Ventbal Aspect. 

 (Aftee Gakkod.) 



