No. XVI. 



Notice of an Anatomical Peculiarity observed in the Struc- 

 ture of the Condor of the Andes ; ( Vultur gryphus, Linn.) 

 By R. Harlan, M.D. Bead April 3d, 1829. 



DURING the past year, two fine specimens, male and fe- 

 male, of the Condor from Peru, died in this city. I 

 caused their skins to he prepared, and they now constitute a 

 valuable addition to the cabinet of the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences of Philadelphia. 



On dissection the stomach presented a peculiarity of orga- 

 nization, which appears to be characteristic of this species. 



The crop or ingluvies is very large, and was in this instance 

 filled with macerated raw meat. The stomach, which was 

 nearly empty (with the exception of some thick pieces of 

 glass, stone coal, gravel, &c.) is oblong in form; the cardiac 

 portion being marked with longitudinal folds : the middle 

 portion displays two oval protuberances composed of gastric 

 glands, which is again succeeded by a membranous or saccu- 

 lar portion, on the interior surface of which are numerous 

 and nearly contiguous, longitudinal bands or ridges, of a car- 

 tilaginous structure, serrated or spiny on the surface towards 

 the stomach, covering the pyloric or lowermost two-thirds of 

 the stomach. This cartilaginous production, like the inner 

 lining of the gizzard of the fowl, is easily detached. It must 

 have considerable effect in facilitating the process of diges- 

 tion, by tearing and separating the fibres of the meat with 

 which these birds habitually gorge themselves, so as to be dis- 

 abled, for a time, for flight. The liver is very large : the 

 gall bladder was much distended with bile. 



