418 BOTAURUS LENTIGINOSIS. 



two-thirds, then slightly decimate, the ridge broad and some- 

 what flattened at the base, then gradually narrowed and 

 convex, the nasal sinus oblong, basal, with a groove extend- 

 ing nearly to the end, the sides erect and flattened at the 

 base, convex in the middle, the edges sharp, somewhat 

 serrulate towards the end, the tip narrow, with a distinct 

 notch on each side ; the lower mandible with the angle very 

 long and narrow, the lower outline of the crura straight, their 

 sides flattened and sloping a little outwards, the dorsal line 

 ascending, the edges sharp, direct, obscurely serrulate, the 

 tip finely acuminate; the gape-line nearly straight. 



Internally the upper mandible is considerably concave, 

 with three longitudinal ridges ; the lower deeply concave, 

 with its crura very elastic, so that the mouth, which measures 

 ten-twelfths of an inch across, may be greatly expanded. 

 The tongue is two inches long, slender, trigonal, flattened 

 above, saggitate at the base, with a single pointed papilla on 

 each side, its tip slender and bluntish. The oesophagus is 

 fifteen inches long, two inches wide at the commencement, 

 gradually contracting to half an inch, but within the thorax 

 an inch in width ; its walls extremely thin ; the proventri- 

 culus very wide, with a belt of oblong glandules, ten-twelfths 

 in breadth. The stomach is of moderate size, an inch in 

 diameter, roundish, membranous, with circular tendinous 

 spaces, and smooth inner coat. The intestine is four feet 

 seven inches in length, extremely narrow, its breadth in the 

 duodenal part being only two-twelfths, and toward the 

 ccecum one-twelfth and a half. The rectum, which is four 

 inches long, has its anterior extremity rounded, with a 

 minute papilliform termination. The cloaca very large and 

 globular. 



The nostrils are linear, seven-twelfths long. The eyes 

 four-twelfths in breadth. The legs are rather long, and 

 stout ; the tibia bare for the space of an inch ; the tarsus 

 rather short, roundish, with about eighteen very broad 

 anterior scutella; the toes very long, slender, marginate, 

 the third and fourth connected by a basal web ; the first 

 large, with nine scutella, the second, which is longer than 

 the fourth, with eighteen, the third thirty-two, the fourth 



