118 Mr. A. Newton on the supposed Gxdar Pouch 



was but slightly acquainted with the German language, as he 

 himself, and with unfeigned regret, was at all times ready to 

 admit. Those who enjoyed his friendship were more disposed to 

 admire the amount of scientific knowledge with which, in the 

 intervals of a laborious life, he had stored his mind, than to won- 

 der at there being some special branches of learning — however 

 important these might be — of which he was ignorant. Mr. 

 Yarrell in writing to me, under date January 11, 1856, says as 

 follows : — 



" I have now prepared my article on the Great Bustard for the 

 printer. I have made no reference to the various objections of 

 Naumann and others. The existence of an opening or no opening 

 under the tongue ... is not a matter of age, since of the two I 

 examined one was a year and a half old, the other four years. 

 The air-bag being of variable shape, in one case with a contrac- 

 tion in the middle, shows that it was not destined to hold water. 

 Gravity would prevent any division. The small quantity of fluid 

 is the seasonal secretion of the glands of the neck and the con- 

 necting cellular membranes, and lubricates the surrounding parts. 

 . . . The grass seeds are equivocal; I cannot understand how 

 they were to get there . . . such foreign substances would destroy 

 the bird by inflammation." 



Most of the above passage, it will be seen, has reference to the 

 account given by Naumann of his own experience rather than that 

 of Nitzsch ; but in my letter of December 6, 1855 (which by 

 favour of Mr. Van Voorst, Mr. Yarrell's executor, now lies before 

 me, and to which it was in reply), I had especially mentioned 

 the observations of the second-named observer as quoted by the 

 first. But it is quite certain from what I have said that Mr. 

 Yarrell was fully aware of the testimony to the existence of the 

 gular pouch adduced by German naturalists, if not prior to the 

 printing of his paper in the ' Linnean Transactions,' yet at least 

 before the appearance of the last edition of his well-known work, 

 in which (B. B. 3rd ed. vol. ii. pp. 445-449) his former remarks 

 are inserted almost word for word. 



In 1854, Dr. Crisp communicated to the Zoological Society 

 the results of his dissection of three Bustards, one of which — a 

 male, aged about two years and a half — had died in the gardens 



