1 50 Miscellaneous. 



The stomach is simple, 4 inches in length, the greatest breadth 

 3 inches ; coats muscular, especially at the pyloric extremity, where 

 the muscle is thickened so as almost to form a fleshy gizzard. The 

 mucous membrane is loosely corrugated at the cardiac end, and 

 densely covered with papillae at the pyloric extremity. There is a 

 central pyriform tubercle suspended from the lesser curvature, pro- 

 jecting into the cavity of the stomach. 



Between the thickened parts of the stomach, imbedded in the 

 coats on the greater curvature, and midway between the cardia and 

 pylorus, is a small sac surrounded by a mass of glands, the use and 

 structure of which are to me unknown. 



The small intestines are 1 feet 1 inches long, and half an inch in 

 circumference ; they are dark-coloured and vascular. 



The caecum is 2 inches in length and 1 inch in circumference. 

 The large intestines are 10 inches long and 1-j inch in circumference. 



The kidneys are ovoid, large, and smooth ; the pelvis ending in a 

 single follicle or sac ; the ureters end near the neck of the small 

 pear-shaped bladder. 



The ovaries are J inch long, small, yellow, ovoid, and spotted, and 

 situated at the inner side of the horns of the uterus. 



The uterus is divided above into two horns, which are curved in- 

 wards and downwards ; each cornu is 1 inch in length ; body of 

 uterus 1^ inch long and subcylindrical. Fallopian tubes 2 inches in 

 length. Vagina long and muscular. Anus immediately behind 

 vulva at root of tail ; there is a transverse linear opening leading 

 to a cul de sac ^ inch deep, studded with conical papillae, and which 

 is the seat of the peculiar alliaceous odour of the Manis. 



A second Entozoon was found in the muscles of the lumbar region. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



On the Nidification of the Kingfisher (Alcedo ispida). 

 By JOHN GOULD, V.P., F.R.S., &c. 



ORNITHOLOGISTS are divided in opinion as to whether the fish-bones 

 found in the cavity in which the Kingfisher deposits its eggs are to 

 be considered in the light of a nest, or as merely the castings from 

 the bird during the period of incubation. Some are disposed to con- 

 sider these bones as entirely the castings and faeces of the young 

 brood of the year before they quit the nest, and that, the same hole 

 being frequented for a succession of years, a great mass is at length 

 formed ; while others believe that they are deposited by the parents 

 as a platform for the eggs, constituting in fact a nest, in which 

 latter view I fully concur ; and the following are my reasons for so 

 doing. 



On the 18th of the past month of April, during one of my fishing 

 excursions on the Thames, I saw a hole in a precipitous bank, which 

 I felt assured was a nesting-place of the Kingfisher ; and on passing 

 a spare top of my fly-rod to the extremity of the hole, a distance of 



