524 On the Ornithology of Blackburn 



quet observed a scarcely discernible pore opening at the lat- 

 ter situation, but did not observe the escape of any ova from it. 

 He remarks, page 101, "Mais une autre question s'offre na- 

 turellement ici, et me parait aussi importante a resoudre que 

 les precedentes : c'est la maniere dont les ceufs fecondes sor- 

 tent du corps. Est ce par la trompe, comme le veulent quel- 

 ques auteurs, ou bien par le . canal qui termine l'ovaire et 

 s'ouvre a Texterieur, par un pore a peine sensible sur le plus 

 grand nombre des individus ?" 



" J'ai cherche en vain, sur tous les echinorhynques vivants 

 que j'ai eus a ma disposition, a voir sortir les ceufs par la 

 trompe et par la queue." 



That the ova of the Echinorynchi are discharged as might 

 be naturally expected from a caudal pore, is sufficiently clear 

 from the following facts taken from my diary. On the fourth 

 of the present month, I examined in the microscope a num- 

 ber of specimens of the Echinorynchus Acus, which had been 

 twenty-four hours in the salt solution, distending them on a 

 slip of glass as before explained, by applying drops of fresh 

 water at intervals. In the examination of one specimen I 

 saw eight ova near the tail, but could not ascertain whence 

 they came. In that of another, thirty-two ova were in the 

 same situation, but none near any other -part of the animal. 

 In examining a third, which I treated with distilled water, 

 and kept my eye steadily directed to the caudal end, I obser- 

 ved after the lapse of a few minutes, 150 ova of different 

 sizes, ejected from the central point of the tail in one rush. 

 From a fourth specimen I obtained a similar result ; fifty-eight 

 eggs were ejected, some in rapid succession, and others one 

 by one, each starting out with a sudden jerk. In none of 

 these experiments was there any appearance of the supposed 

 cotyledonous bodies. 



( To he continued). 



Belfast, September, 1838. 



Art. II. — On the Ornithology of Blackburn, and the North of 

 Lancashire. By John Skaife, Esq. 



(Continued from page 433). 



Order III.— SCANS ORES. 

 Gen. Picus. 



1. Picus viridis. Green Woodpecker. Very rare. 



