CARINATjE 



Ralliformes 



Ipecaha Rail. Aramides ipecaha. Plate XIII. 



The eyeground is a very pale uniform gray stippled with darker 

 gray and white dots, thus giving the whole field a granular appear- 

 ance. The horizontally oval macular area (on the nasal aspect 

 near the upper end of the disc) assumes a pinkish tone. At its centre 

 is a small pit with a brilliant, white central dot. Around the macular 

 region is a pale, blue-gray reflex which loses itself in the general tone 

 of the fundus, but appears quite sharp on the inner side of the oval 

 macular region. The disc is a narrow, white oval, whose length is 

 about one-third the height of the pecten. A number of opaque 

 nerve fibres run across the background at right angles to the papilla 

 and fade into the general gray of the fundus. The pecten arises 

 from the upper part of the disc, spreads out on it like the root of a 

 tree and gradually disappears into the papillary substance. From 

 this root a long, slender, spiral form projects into the vitreous. It is 

 brown in color, is of uniform width, looks like a corkscrew and 

 extends forwards and outwards as far as the eye can see, looking as 

 if it were pressed against the lower part of the lens. The anterior 

 end of the pecten is much darker in color than its posterior half. 



Sphenisciformes 

 Black-footed (Cape) Penguin. Spheniscus dcmersus. Plate XIV. 



The dominant color of the fundus is bright red shading to crim- 

 son. It is stippled with minute, dark-red and orange dots, much like 

 grains of sand. About a disc-length from the upper end of the optic 

 disc these dots become grayish-white; indeed, the fundal coloration 

 is distinctly gray towards the upper half of the eyeground. In a 

 region the same distance towards the temporal aspect of the back- 

 ground may be seen a cluster of pinpoint, brilliant, white dots in the 

 macular area. Penguins use the nictating membrane very fre- 

 quently when light is thrown on this part of the eyeground. The 

 optic disc exhibits enamel-white edges; it is hollowed out in the 

 centre, like a sewing-machine shuttle. Running across this con- 

 cavity and at right angles to the margin of the disc one sees a large 

 number of gray fibres. 



The pecten lies along the centre of the nerve, where it is orange- 

 red in color and mottled with minute, brown pigment dots. The 

 pecten has the usual dark chocolate-brown shade. It is of spiral 

 form, like a corkscrew laid on its side. A few slender opaque nerve 

 fibres are visible on each side of and at right angles to the disc. 



13^> 



