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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



to a sharpened apex, which, inCathartes a. septentrion- 

 al i s protrudes under the mesethmoid in front, where it takes the 

 place of a vomer, that bone being apparently absent in all of our 

 Cathartidae, except perhaps in Gyparehus. 1 



The palatines are broad plates of bone, with a wide, median 

 fissure separating them for their anterior two thirds ; in front their 

 pointed ends are, upon either side, wedged and anchylosed in be- 

 tween the dentary process of the premaxillary below, the maxillary 

 and nasal above and to their outer aspects. These " prepalatine " 

 portions of the palatines are nearly horizontally disposed, but as 

 we follow the bones backward, we find their internal and ex- 

 ternal margins deflected downward, more especially the internal 

 ones ; and the bones here are in mutual contact for some consider- 

 able distance in the median plane. These " postpalatine " portions 

 thus articulating, offer above a longitudinal, subcylindrical gutter, 

 which is molded upon the nether side of the rostrum, over which it 

 glides, whenever the superior mandible is depressed. The pterygoid 

 extremities of the palatines are ample and offer in each case a 

 good sized facet for articulation with the anterior end of the 

 corresponding pterygoid. In all of our species of the Cathartidae 

 the " posteroexternal angles " of the palatines are rounded off, and 

 upon the whole these bones are much the broadest in Gyparehus 

 papa, and narrowest in Catharista u r u b u [see Hay- 

 den's 12th An. Rep't, pi. 24, fig. 129] So large is a quadrate bone 

 in any one of these vultures of ours, that it forms one of the most 

 prominent features upon either the lateral or under view of the 

 cranium. Its " mastoid process " is massive and broad, and suggests 

 the idea that it may once have been flat, but subsequently became 

 twisted one third upon itself so as to admit of its condyle articu- 

 lating as it now does in the obliquely placed facet for its reception 

 under the aural arcade. This facet is elongated and narrow. The 

 orbital process of the quadrate is a. broad but extremely thin plate 

 of bone, with truncated free end, which is finished off by a little, 

 raised rim. In Catharista the orbital process is very large and of 

 an oblong outline, and here, as. in all these vultures, we note at 

 its base, above the condyle of the mandibular end, the subelliptical 

 convex facet for the pterygoid, a special elevated crest being 



1 Prof. W. K. Parker lias said that "111 the King vulture ( S a r c o r h a m p h u s 

 papa) the palate agrees with that of its congener Cathartes; but I find a small 

 mediopalatine, and also much larger and more functional basipterygoids." This 

 " mediopalatine " I regard as a rudimentary vomer, and it is found in such other 

 palates as those of the Pici [See Parker. Linn. Soc. Loud. Trans, scr. 2, Zool. 1 : 

 138, pi. 25, fig. 19 tnj>a]. 



