704 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXXVII. 



surface is raised, on either side, into smooth rounded domes, 

 that are less marked in C. cabanisi, and that arc bounded behind 

 by the prominent and projecting temporal fossae. These latter 

 are divided behind by a sharp median ridge (see Fig. 2). All 

 these features, though present in Alcedo, are far less noticeable, 

 while the median ridge tends to merge into the surrounding 

 surfaces. This is completely effected in the skull of such a 

 form, for instance, as Geococcyx, where the temporal fossa: are 



well separated, and the median ridge has become a broad sur- 

 face, indistinguishable from the general superficies of the cranial 

 vault. Holding a mid-position between these two conditions, 

 we find an example in the skull of Coccv.zns amcricanus where 

 the fossae approach each other again. 



Ceryle has its occipito-basicranial region circumscribed, and 

 its plane faces posteriorly and only slightly downwards, much 



