OCR Text |
Show 434 MR. F. E. BEDDARD ON THE [June 3, which forms the lower boundary of the fossae presents the appearance of independence, and the eye hardly takes it in in noting the shape of the skull. In all these points the skull of Podica resembles that of the Rails. Fig. 3. Skull of Podica senegalensis, ventral view ; nat. size. The general appearance of the skull of Podica is more like that of Aramides than of any other Rail with which I have been able to compare it. But it differs from Aramides, and agrees with Fulica and Ocydromus, in the comparatively short, outwardly and backwards directed part of the lachrymal, and also in the slender ven-trally- directed process which does not (as far as the ossified part at any rate is concerned) reach the jugal. There is rather a less marked contrast in diameter between the anterior and posterior parts of the palatines than exists in the Rails; but this character by no means offers a link with the Grebes. There is no advantage to be gained by comparing Podica with Colymbus, for that bird shows the characters of Podiceps even exaggerated, and has also a well-marked supraoccipital foramen and grooves for nasal glands, which are wanting in the Rails and also in Podiceps \ 1 The outline of the foramen magnum shows where this supraoccipital foramen has coalesced with the foramen magnum. |