Mr. Yarrell on Mucor growing in the Air-cells of a Bird. 131 



is tile-red. Little specks of a deeper tint of the same colour border 

 each scale, and these specks are at intervals crowded so as to pro- 

 duce five vertical bands under the soft dorsal, narrower than the in- 

 tervening spaces. There is another less distinct band on the nape, 

 and a seventh on the base of the caudal. None of the bands go be- 

 yond the general line of the red. The lower half of the side is pale 

 primrose-yellow, which fades to white on the belly. The head, which 

 is represented as scaly on its whole upper surface as well as on the 

 cheeks and gill- covers, is coloured like the body, except that white 

 replaces the yellow of the lower parts. Three azure-blue streaks 

 cross the front between the eyes, one on the upper part of the cheek 

 follows the curve of the orbit, two run from the eye to the upper 

 lip, and two connected like a bent bow and its string, cross the oc- 

 ciput. The spinous dorsal is entirely black, the soft one pale bluish 

 lilac ; and behind each ray there are two round white spots, one above 

 the other, and two blackish brown dots higher up, making four rows 

 in all. The anal is also lilac, but with a tinge of crimson ; and it 

 is marked by a series of sixteen crimson streaks running obliquely for- 

 wards across the rays. The caudal is red like the back, with a yellow 

 upper and under border, and four waving transverse lines on its distal 

 half. The pectorals are unspotted red, and the ventrals greenish. 



[To be continued.] 



XVI I. — On Mucor observed by Col. Montagu growing in the 

 Air-cells of a Bird. From Wm, Yarrell^ Esq., F.L.S. 



To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History. 



Gentlemen, 

 In addition to the instances quoted in the eighth volume of the 

 * Annals/ page 229, of the growth of cryptogamous plants in 

 the bronchial tubes of a Flamingo, and on the internal surface 

 of the air-cells of an Eider-duck, allow me to refer you to 

 another example mentioned by Col. Montagu in the ' Supple- 

 ment to his Ornithological Dictionary,^ published in 1813, 

 under the article ^ Scaup Duck.^ The paragraphs are as fol- 

 lows : — 



^* The cause of death (in this female) appeared to be in the 

 lungs, and in the membrane that separates them from the 

 other viscera ; this last was much thickened, and all the ca- 

 vity within was covered with mucor or blue mould.^' 



" It is a most curious circumstance to find this vegetable 

 production growing within a living animal, and shows that 

 where air is pervious, mould wdll be found to obtain, if it 

 meets with sufficient moisture, and a place congenial to vege- 

 tation. Now the fact is, that the part on which this vegetable 

 M^as growing was decayed, and had no longer in itself a living 



K 2 



