No. 442.] OSTEOLOGY OF THE KINGFISHERS. 



an interval of about two millimeters, and merge beyond into 

 the bony roof of the mouth already described. The interval 

 between their anterior ends is continued backwards to a point 

 well within the articulation of the heads that articulate with the 

 pterygoids. Near their inner margins, posteriorly, quite a large 

 foramen exists 111 each, which is a constant character. Opposite 

 the pars plana of the ethmoid in Cervle, each palatine throws up 

 a triangular plate of hone to project freely into the rhinal space. 

 The postero-external angles of these bones are truncate, a feeble 

 spine being produced near the middle in Caylc alcyoti, a character 

 better marked in C. cabanist 'while in Alcedo ispida this character 

 is developed as a spine-like spur, and is very conspicuous. 



This feature is also present in Dacclo gigas, w hile in Merops 

 the long and slender palatines are devoid of any postero-external 



In Ceryle the inner margins of the posterior moieties of the 

 palatines always fuse together, and this fusion is carried back as 

 far as the pterygoidal heads, which it includes. 



In my specimens of Coccyzus amcricamts there are no spine-like 

 projections from the postero-external angles of the palatines, but 

 the angles in question are distinctly defined, differing in this 



off postero-external lv " (Huxley). This is the case also in the 

 skulls I have at hand of Geococcyx, but Huxley found them to 

 be distinctly indicated in the specimens he examined of this bird, 

 so here this character may vary perhaps with the age of the 

 individual. 



