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Show 450 PROF. HUXLEY ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. [Apr. 1 1, Fig. 31. View of the palate of Yunx torquilla (X 2). Tbe letters as before. slender, and the inner edge of each is angulated near its anterior termination. This angulation may represent the process c (fig. 30) in Picus viridis. The maxillo-palatines are represented by mere ridges on the inner side of the maxillae, bounding a fossa. No ossification of the septum remains in any of the skulls of Yunx I have examined. I have discussed Picus and Yunx, in this place, because of the general agreement among ornithologists that Picus and its allies are closely related to the Cuckoos and other " Scansores." But it is clear that nothing can be more different than the crauial structure of the Picidee and that of any of the other "Scansores;" and, indeed, judging from the dry skull alone, the Woodpeckers are not even desmognathous. But, as I have already hinted, a question of this systematic importance cannot be finally settled without the careful investigation of fresh specimens. IV. The remaining Carinatae have a palatine structure which is in some respects intermediate between that of the Schizognathous and that of the Desmognathous groups, while in others it is peculiar. This structure, which I term iEgithognathous, is well exemplified by any of the typical Passerine Birds, as, for example, a Raven (fig. 32). The vomer is a broad bone, abruptly truncated in front, and deeply cleft behind, embracing the rostrum of the sphenoid between its forks. The palatines have produced postero-external angles. The |
