226 



DR. P. CHALMERS MITCHELL OX THE 



the EallidaB and Gruidac, the loops of Meckel's tract being long and straight, the first 

 and second being partly fused and the third having disappeared. 



Otidid-E. — I baAe had the opportunity of examining only Otis tarda, the Great 

 Bustard. In it (fig. 45) the duodenum is a long narrov\- loop. Meckel's tract is thrown 

 only into two loops, of which the second is a very large supra-duodenal loop drained by 

 a pair of large bridging vessels, and has long and peculiar caica closely applied to it. 

 The proximal loop 1 take to be the axial loop seen in the Rallidae ; it bears upon it, low 



Fis. 45. 



r\:o. 



u n 



SOF 



Intestinal Tract of Otis tarda. 



n.ti.. nerves entering mesentery; v.u.ic.. gangJion in d\:odenum from -which nerves pass to caeca and snpra- 



duodenal loop; v.n.g., large ganglion of visceral nerve; v.n., branch of visceral nerve in rectum. 



down on its distal limb, a Meckel's diverticuluni. A ] air of very small but quite 

 definite folds, marked " r? " and "c" in the figure, I take to represent the similarly 

 designated large loojjs in the Rallidtie and Gruidse. 



The intestinal trac't of Otis is certainly markedly apocentric. The loops are all very 

 definite and the supra-duodenal loop in jiarticular is highly specialized, being closely 

 applied to tlie duodenum, over which it lies in the unfolded condition, and from Avhich 

 it recei\es not only a pair of bridging veins, but t\Ao branches of the autonomic visceral 



