CUCULID^.] OSTEOLOG-IA AVIUM. [CENTROPIN.E. 



Order VI. ERUCIVORES. 



Fam. 1. CTTCTJLIM!. 



Subfam. 1. Centropin^e. 



Centropus, III. 



Phasianus, Lath. 

 Type of Cuculidee and Centropinae. 



Cranium slightly hollowed out between the orbits, which are very large ; the septum 

 with a very large central foramen ; channel for the masseter muscles deep, and carried 

 backwards to the occiput, which has a well-marked ridge. Palatine bones united at 

 their internal posterior angles, slightly sloped to their external angle, where they are 

 broadest, and from which point they gradually taper anteriorly, the central and lateral 

 edges turned downwards. Interarticular bones slightly flattened. Inferior maxillary 

 bones hollowed out on their external side for a little more than one-half their length, 

 near the centre of which is a foramen of an elongated oval form, being an unossified space 

 left at the place of union of the symphysial with the angular, supra-angular, and splenial 

 elements *. Nostrils large, oval. Lacrymals small, rounded. 



Sternum with the lateral margins curving from the junction of the ribs gradually out- 

 wards ; posterior margin with a moderate-sized fissure on each side of the keel ; the central 

 portion between the fissures projecting further backwards than the lateral ones. Keel of 

 moderate size, very slightly arched on its inferior edge, and continued to the posterior 

 margin of the sternum ; the anterior edge scolloped out from the junction of the fur- 

 culum to the manubrial process, which is small, consisting merely of a projecting blunt 

 spine ; above the coracoids a lengthened plate projects from their articulation, to which 

 the ribs are articulated. Coracoids of moderate length. Furculum with the rami 

 rounded, slightly arched anteriorly when viewed laterally, when from the front appearing 

 nearly straight to within a short distance of their junction, where they curve inwards, a 

 thin plate at their articulation with the sternum extending downwards and backwards. 



Pelvis of moderate size, with an elevated central keel extending down the whole length 

 of the ilium ; the anterior edge of the ilium curved upwards, from which point to the 

 cotyloid cavity it is gradually curved inwards ; a transverse ridge a little behind the coty- 

 loid cavity, extending about halfway over each division of the ilium. The upper plane 

 of the ilium projecting very far over the ischium, the edges rounded gradually inwards 



* See Owen, Encyclopedia of Comparative Anatomy, Aves, p. 277. 



