HERODIONES 431 



have a long large intestine. As a rule the left lobe of the 

 liver is the smaller, while in the storks the lobes are equal. 

 A gall bladder is always present except in Botaum* fitt'Hd ri.fi. 

 The caecum is single, and, as will be seen from above 

 measurements, rudimentary. 



The carotids are, as a rule, two, and separate ; but in 

 Botaurus they fuse, and in Ardetta mvolucris the right only 

 is present. 



Of the leg muscles the ambiens is always absent, and the 

 formula is typically AXY . The feinuroeaudal is never 

 strong, and is particularly slender in Ardea Goliath. 1 In .-1. 

 Hum-atruua, A. ludoviciana, Nijcticorax Gardeni, Caucroina 

 cochlearia, and Tigrisouia braxiliense it is totally absent. 



The deep plantar tendon* are characteristic ; there is 

 almost always a very slender vinculum between the two, 

 which is totally wanting in Bottii/rus stellaris, Ardetta 

 involncris, and .4. ex His. 



The tensores patagii are stork-like. The tendon of the 

 brevis bifurcates, and from the point where the anterior 

 limb is inserted on to tendon of extensor of fore arm a 

 recurrent slip is given off to lonyus. This arrangement 

 holds good for Ardea pitrpurea, A. Goliath, Cancrunia 

 cochlea ria, and Nijcticorax grisem; but in Cancroma the 

 recurrent slip is sometimes absent. The pectoralis abdoini- 

 nalis is present, and thus serves to differentiate them from 

 the storks, ibises, and spoonbills, in which the muscle is 

 absent. 



The skull of the Ardeida? has been chiefly studied by 

 SHUFELDT. 2 In the more normal forms (e.g. Ardea cinerea, 

 Butorides cyanurux} the skull is holorhinal, the holorhiny 

 not being obscured as it is often among the storks by 

 the irregular ossification of alinasals. The vomer is well 

 developed, much compressed laterally, and largely double. 

 The maxillo-palatines are spongy bones, largely free 

 from each other posteriorly. The palatines (see fig. '20'2) 



1 Sometimes absent in this species. 



' Osteologic-til Studies of the Subfamily Ardcimr,' ,J< urn. Cmnji. Mc<L and 

 Stir,/. 1S89. 



