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Show 368 DR. ST. GEORGE MIVART ON THE SKELETON OF [May 7, In L. flavopalliatus there is none of all this, save that a groove appears on the mid-dorsum at a point coinciding with the level of the antero-posterior middle of the nares, and then similarly bifurcates-its two branches running forwards and similarly terminating in foramina on each side of the beak at some distance from its apex. T H E V E N T R A L ASPECT of the prosopium (see figs. 6 & 7, p. 378) presents a palatal surface slightly more concave both antero-posteriorly and transversely than in P. erithacus. In the latter species this surface is crossed by a very slightly marked ridge the median part of which is the most preaxial, the two lateral halves of the ridge thence diverging backwards at an angle of about 140°; this median point of divergence is rather nearer to the apex of the prosopium than to the hinder margin of its palatal surface. From immediately behind it, an antero-posteriorly directed groove runs postaxiad and leads to a small foramen, beneath which the margins of the groove medianly unite, and thence an antero-posterior prominence may continue on in the same direction as the groove and for about tbe same length, subsiding entirely before reaching the hinder margin of the palate. In L. flavopalliatus there is no transverse ridge but only a slight smooth swelling of the palatal surface in about the position of the middle of that transverse ridge in P. erithacus. In front of this is a short median antero-posteriorly directed groove, while from behind it a similarly directed prominence runs backwards almost to the very postaxial margin of the palate. The middle of that margin in P. erithacus projects postaxiad rather more than the parts of the margin right and left of it, because the postaxial concavities for the palatines begin almost at once on either side of it. In L. flavopalliatus, on the contrary, the middle part of the postaxial margin of the palate does not project postaxiad quite so far as does the part of that margin on either side which is mesiad to the concavity for the palatines. Nevertheless in that median part there is a minute process bounded laterally by a very minute notch, these notches together with the process they laterally bound appear in the middle of the postaxial median marginal concavity of the palate. The free margin of that palate is relatively much more extensive in this species, the part of it interposed between the two surfaces for the palatines being fully equal to the extent of both those surfaces, while in P. erithacus it is but about equal to one of them. Tbe postaxiad extensions of the prosopium on either side of the palatines are short, yet a little longer, relatively, than in P. erithacus. Thus the palatines do not advance so far forwards into the palatal region of the prosopium in the last-named species. These lateral prolongations are strongly convex antero-posteriorly in both species, but more so in P. erithacus, since in L. flavopalliatus (as before said) the jugal process so projects as to produce a concavity towards the postaxial end of the tomial margin. Here also these lateral prolongations m a y be said to be |
