Osteological Studies of the Subfamily Ardeince. 31 
26. Pes composed of well-proportioned phalanges, arranged 
on the plan of 2, 3, 4 and 5 joints to 1-4 toes respectively. 
In closing this synopsis of my observations upon the osteolo¬ 
gy of the Ardeince , I may add that I have seen enough to con¬ 
vince me that we stand much in need of careful comparisons of 
the skeletons of more extensive series of specimens of our North 
American Herodii ; and especially should the skeleton of Botaurus 
lentiginosus be compared with B. exilis , and these with the skele¬ 
tons of some of the forms I have noticed above. Indeed, a very 
careful comparison of the entire structure of this very homogene¬ 
ous group would not be labor altogether in vain or misplaced. 
All of the forms of our North American representatives of the 
genus Ardea have the skull very much alike, except, of course, 
in the point of size. I11 Ardea virescens and Nycticorax n. ncevius 
the skulls are notably very much alike, no pronounced characters, 
in fact, distinguishing them ; while on the other hand Nycticorax 
violaceus has a skull that is at once seen to be distinguished from 
the skull in Ardea by its greater average breadth ; its cothparative 
much shorter beak ; by the form of its lacrymal bone ; by the 
difference in the amount of interspace between the crotaphyte fos¬ 
sae ; and by the minute foramina for the exit of the first pair of 
cranial nerves as compared with the large vacuities there in Ardea , 
finally by the vertically truncate posterior ends of the mandible, 
they being obliquely so in the latter genus. 
The form of the laoymat bone in these birds is an interesting 
character, for whatever other morphological differences may exist 
between the representatives of the genus Ardea and Nycticorax , 
we can always distinguish the skull of the former from any of the 
latter, so far as our North American species go, by it alone. This 
difference pertains to the lower part of the lacrymal as set forth in 
my description above (compare figures of skulls of Ardea and 
Nycticorax illustrating this memoir). 
While engaged upon the present paper, I have had before 
me skulls of Cancroma cochlcaria and other foreign heron-forms, 
for which my thanks are due to the U. S. National Museum, but 
any allusion to them here would be a passing beyond the limita¬ 
tions of the scope of my present work, and it has been my only 
aim here to record a few of the comparative osteological charac¬ 
ters of our Herons, as offering a chapter that may be both extend¬ 
ed and improved upon, some time in the future, and no doubt by 
abler pens than mine. 
