CARINATjE 



Passeriformes. />'. Fringillidce. 



House Sparrow. Passer domesticus. Plate LI 1 1. 



The general color of the fundus is pale-gray covered with very 

 fine white dots, closely packed together at the macular area. They 

 form a lighter zone a little above the upper extremity of the pecten 

 and towards the nasal side of the disc. From the circumference of 

 the optic disc a large number of rather long, opaque nerve fibres 

 run in radial fashion towards the periphery of the fundus. The 

 papilla appears, when visible, to be composed of irregularly shaped, 

 brilliant white bundles; it can barely be outlined with the mirror 

 except at the upper (and narrow) end of the pecten. The pecten 

 has a deep red-brown color, and its free extremity is long, narrow 

 and of the corkscrew type. The lower segment of the organ extends 

 well forward towards the lens and, being large and massive, com- 

 pletely covers the pupil and makes it impossible to obtain a lateral 

 view. 



Varied Bunting. Cyanospiza versicolor. Plate LIV. 



The eyeground is dull gray shaded to buff and besprinkled with 

 very minute, grayish-white dots. These dots coalesce at the macula, 

 where they form a soft, round area bordered by a light reflex. The 

 single macular region and fovea are situated a little above the upper 

 end of the pecten and towards the nasal side of the optic nerve. 

 The pecten, very large and massive for the size of the eye, is of the 

 usual chocolate-brown colour; it is more or less club-shaped, and 

 extends well forward towards the lens. Where the pecten joins the 

 retina it is very irregular in shape. The pecten, whose outline is 

 quite irregular, covers the papilla entirely so that it appears to 

 spring directly from the retina without showing the white disc mar- 

 gin. From the sides of the apparent root of the pecten a few, 

 whitish, opaque nerve fibres cross the field of view. 



172 



