Miscellaneous, 73 



There are four claws, or phalangeal bones of the fore-foot of a 

 small- sized individual : in general form these bones approach nearest 

 to those of the Orycteropus. 



There are two tibiae belonging to different individuals of different 

 sizes : one is ten inches five-tenths in length, the other ten inches. 

 This is a short, thick and strong bone. Its upper articulating sur- 

 face is nearly a circular concave disc. Its lower anterior extremity- 

 is marked by a peculiar deep ovoid depression or hollow, for the 

 reception of a corresponding hemisphere, projecting upwards from 

 the astragalus, forming together a structure of joint altogether 

 unique. The motions of the ankle joint were rotatory, but the arti- 

 culating surface of the lower aspect of the astragalus admitted of 

 ginglymous motion with the os calcis. 



The clavicle and ribs, portions of which only exist, are not distin- 

 guished by any remarkable characters : but the foramen for the pas- 

 sage of the spinal marrow, in the vertebrae, is exceedingly small, an 

 unaccountable feature in a skeleton, which in all other respects de- 

 monstrates great physical strength as one of its most remarkable 

 characteristics. 



The portion of sternum belonged most probably to the largest of 

 the three individuals ; the animal being apparently less than the 

 Megatherium, and larger than the Megalonyx. 



Dr. Harlan proposes to name this animal " Orycterotherium Mis- 

 souriense." 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



LYMPH-GLOBULES OF BIRDS. 



It is well known that the blood of vertebrate animals contains, be- 

 sides the red discs, a few pale globules, which have commonly been 

 regarded as those of lymph. But in birds I have found that the ma- 

 jority of the globules of the juice of the lymphatic glands are rather 

 smaller than the pale globules of the blood, and the same fact is 

 observable in mammals ; yet the descriptions since Hewson's time of 

 the lymph-globules of birds have always been drawn from the pale 

 globules of their blood. 



This distinguished man states that the particles of the fluid of the 

 lymphatic glands of birds are oval, like the nuclei of their blood-cor- 

 puscles. In the 'Phil. Mag.' for February 1840, I described the 

 lymph- globules of the Napu Musk Deer as hardly differing from those 

 of Man, although the blood-discs of this little ruminant, as I had dis- 

 covered and described in November 1839, are the smallest yet known ; 

 and although the Camelidce have oval blood-discs, I found that the 

 globules in the juice of the thymus and of the lymphatic glands, and 

 of the pus of these animals, had the usual circular figure and nearly 

 the same size as the corresponding globules of other Mammalia. [See 

 Med. Chir. Trans, vol. xxiii.] It was to be expected, therefore, that 

 the lymph- globules of birds would have a similar form ; and such is 

 the case, as I have lately ascertained. In a few instances from one 



