94 M. Coste on the Formation of Cells. 



to which I would apply that term, as there are on the neck and 

 wing-coverts of the European bird. 



YarrelFs figure gives a very good general idea of the American 

 Bittern, but in two impressions (1st and 2nd editions) examined, 

 the back and wings look rather too dark, and I could hypercr - 

 tically have wished the quills and tail shown of a uniform co- 

 lour, in which respect they so obviously differ from the same parts 

 in the common species, which are banded. But in figures of so 

 small a size, characters like these can be but partially attended to. 



The first Ardea lentiginosa which occurred in Europe was (as is 

 well known to ornithologists) described by Montagu under this 

 name; it was killed in Dorsetshire in the autumn of 1804 : a se- 

 cond was made known by Dr. E. Moore as shot near Plymouth 

 on the 22nd of Dec. 1829 : notice of a third obtained near Christ- 

 church in 1836 was communicated to Mr.Yarrell, who has likewise 

 been told of a bird, believed to be of this species, having been pro- 

 cured in the Isle of Man — but the season or year is not mentioned. 

 About the middle of October 1844, one of these birds — the only 

 one obtained in Scotland — ^was killed on the property of Sir Wm. 

 Jardine, Bart., in Dumfries-shire, and at a very appropriate time, 

 when Mr. Gould, the well-known ornithologist, was on a visit at 

 Jardine Hall : — where too, I lately had the pleasure of seeing the 

 specimen. These are all the examples known to have occurred 

 in Great Britain. There is no record of this species having been 

 met with on the continent of Europe in TemmincVs ^ Manuel ^ 

 &c. (vol. iv. 1840) ; Keyserling and Blasius^ * Wirbelthiere Eu- 

 ropas ' (1840), or SchlegeFs ' Revue Critique des Oiseaux d^Eu- 

 rope, (1844) : — a fact, which, like that of other American species 

 having been obtained in the British Islands, and not farther to 

 the eastward, strengthens the circumstantial evidence in favour 

 of such birds having really crossed the Atlantic. Three out of 

 the four birds of this species, the date of whose occurrence in the 

 British Islands is known to us, were met with about the migra- 

 tory period when the species leaves the more northern for the 

 southern parts of North America : — the fourth, which was ob- 

 tained in December, may have arrived at that period, but have 

 remained in the country unobserved until it was killed. 



XVI. — Researches on the Primary Modifications of Organic 

 Mattery and on the Formation of Cells. By M. Coste*. (2nd 

 Part.) 



[Continued from vol. xvi. p. 385.] 



The most appropriate examples for supplying the necessary 

 means for resolving the difficult problem of the formation of cells 



* Translated from the Comptes Rendus, Dec. 22, 1845. 



