RATITjE 



Casuariiformes 



Westerman Cassowary. Casuarius occipitalis. Plate III. 



The fawn-colored eyeground is covered with a minute, silver- 

 gray stipple, in the form of fine, short lines with their long axes 

 running in a vertical direction. As these dotted lines approach the 

 macular region they become more and more convergent until they form 

 a brilliant cluster at the fovea. There is no visible line of demarca- 

 tion or reflex ring separating this area from the general fundus area. 

 There are no visible choroidal vessels or opaque nerve fibres. 



The optic disc is long and boat-shaped, with a reddish, appar- 

 ently concave centre. It is uniformly sprinkled with darker red dots, 

 which, as they approach the margin of the papilla, are more closely 

 packed, and give the appearance of a shadow cast all about the 

 inner edge of the disc. The margins of the nerve-head are dis- 

 tinctly white, but they have not the "fibrous" appearance seen in 

 most avian backgrounds. 



The chocolate-brown pecten, much broader at its base than at the 

 apex, resembles a corkscrew, its lateral elevation being not unlike a 

 cockscomb, with its six serrations rounded off at the apex. Two 

 central serrations come well forward towards the lens. 



Apterygiformes 

 Mantell Apteryx. Apteryx mantclli. Plate IV. 



The ocular background is uniformly orange-red, somewhat 

 mottled with brown. The brilliant, white, round disc is surrounded 

 by short, opaque nerve-fibre layers not entirely covered by the 

 fenestrated base of the long, large, and conical pecten, whose pointed 

 end reaches almost to the lens. There are no signs of choroidal 

 blood-vessels. 



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