File:Annual report of the Regents - New York State Museum. (1908) (19179858909).jpg

Identifier: annualreportofr6219newy_0
Year: 1889 (1880s)
Authors: New York State Museum; University of the State of New York. Board of Regents
Subjects: New York State Museum; Natural history; Science; Museums
Publisher: Albany, N. Y. : University of the State of New York
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: BHL-SIL-FEDLINK

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3io NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM Still regarding this skull from the aspect presented,,and to make some of its characters still more evi- dent by contrast, we will place it be- side the skull of Mergus, already described in the early part of this paper. We note the difference in the form of the bill; the presence of the craniofacial line in the goose, while it is absent in the Merganser. Both have the narrow depressions along the margins of the orbits for the nasal glands, but posterior to this the goose has the domelike vault of the cranium so characteristic of the more highly organized types of the Anati- dae, while we see that this region in the Merganser is much flattened. Regarding the skull from the under side, we are particularly to note the difference in form of the maxil- lopalatines, the palatine bodies, and the pterygoids. As a rule, in the skull of geese the osseous mandibles vary in length, but are always broad and of a lamellar structure; the lacrymofrontal suture is obliterated; a descending process of the lacrymal is much expanded, with its flat surface directed outward; the mastoidal head of quadrate double; trochleae of mandibular foot of quad- rate with their long axes placed nearly at right angles with the long axis of the skull; maxillopalatines fuse in the median line for their en-
Text Appearing After Image:
FlG. 37 Right lateral view of the skull of Branta canadensis. Mandible removed. Natural size. ^. Drawn by the author from a specimen in his own collection, now in the State Museum; the goose hav- ing been shot by him on the Platte river, Fort Fcttcrman, Wyoming, 1880 tire lengths, no posterior processes, and the pterygoids short, straight, and much larger anteriorly than they are at their proximal extremities. From a consideration of the skull of the ordinary goose we are naturally led to an examination of that part of the skeleton in the "tree ducks." To this end I have carefully comoared the cranium;

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