Sternum without manubrium, the metastemum entire or else with 

 it one notch on each side; clavicles united, forming a furculum, 

 id solidly joined to the keel of the sternum; tarso-metatarsus with- 

 it a bony ring or arch over the extensor tendon of the toes; third 

 niddle) toe with second phalanx decidedly longer than the basal 

 ialanx; skull relatively long and narrow, with palatines nearly 

 iraUel to each other, approximately the same width throughout, 

 most concealing the maxillo-palatines, which are broader from 

 jove downward than from side to side; prefrontal process of eth- 

 oid consisting of rounded bones of some width; interorbital region 

 Dt forming a thin plate anteriorly, but of considerable thickness. 

 The pterylography is thus described by Mr. Hubert Lyman Clark: ° 



"The head is more uniformly feathered above * and shows no 

 gns of longitudinal rows, but the infra-mandibular region is scarcely 

 athered at all, except for the very narrow lower cervical tract, 

 hich begins at the base of the gonys and extends nearly to the furcula 

 sfore forking widely. It is, however, slightly divided for some dis- 

 mce before it actually forks, so that the upper part of each branch 



abruptly wider than the lower, although there is no true inner 

 ranch given off. The upper cervical tract is very narrow, while the 

 iimerals are narrower than in any other genus, and the parapterum 

 weak. The femorals are strong, but very diffuse, and are scattered 

 rer most of the femur. The feet are not feathered quite to the toes, 

 it the latter are very hairy, the sternal tract is fused with the ven- 

 al, not only at its origin near the furcula, but also at the other end 

 ' the breast, so that the tracts are reaUy one; very broad on the 

 emum, and containiag a longitudinal apterium, and becoming 

 jruptly narrow on the beUy. The hypopterum is very strongly 

 arked, and the hook connecting it with the sternal tract is com- 

 3sed of larger feathers, and they are much more numerous than in the 

 iher owls. Indeed, the whole breast is much more thickly feathered 

 tan in Asio. Another remarkable peculiarity is the formula for 

 le comparative lengths of the rectrices. In all the other owls the 

 iddle pair of tail feathers is the longest and the external pair short- 

 t, so that the formula is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. In Strix [i. e., Tyto], how- 

 '^er, this is exactly reversed, the outer pair beiag the longest and 

 le formula reading 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. There are fifteen secondaries 

 id the primaries rank as follows: 9, 8, 10, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 11. " 

 This family includes a single genus." PhodUus Isidore-Geoffroy 

 as formerly included, on account of its superficial resemblance to 

 yto, but has since been found to more nearly agree structurally with 



» Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xvii, 1895, 565. 



t> As compared witli that of Asio wilsonianus and other Bubonidae. 



" The fossil (extinct) genus BadiosUs Ameghino is placed in this family by Dr. 



arpe (Hand-list, i, 1899, 302). 



