of the Radiated Fruit-Cuckoo. 201 



portion of tlie dorsal tract and the rest. The spinal tract is 

 at first narrow, but is broader posteriorly from the level of 

 the articulation, of the femora ; it terminates at the base 

 of the oil-gland. It is connected at the sides by sparse 

 feathering with the femoral tracts. There is no median 

 apterion. 



It is clear that the pterylosis of Carpococcyx conforms 

 generally to the plan of arrangement which characterizes 

 such Cuckoos as Centropus^ , for the ventral tract of each 

 side divides upon the breast to form two separate tracts, 

 which, as in Centropus celebensis, retain their individuality 

 to the end. There is also an agreement with many Cuckoos 

 in the fact that there is a marked break, absolutely without 

 feathers, between the cervical and dorsal portions of the 

 spinal tract. The principal difference which distinguishes 

 Carpococcyx from all Cuckoos the pterylosis of which has been 

 examined and recorded is the unbroken nature of the spinal 

 tract. There was no trace that I could discover of a median 

 apterion. So far this is diagnostic of the genus. 



b. Abdominal Cavity. 



The two liver-lobes extend down considerably beyond the 

 sternum, and the right is larger than the left. Each of 

 them, as in other Cuckoos f, and in some birds besides, is 

 entirely shut off in a compartment of its own. There is no 

 communication, that can be detected on dissection, between 

 these chambers and that which lodges the intestine. The 

 nature, however, of the right and left hepatic sacs is not 

 quite the same. When the abdominal wall in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the gizzard was removed, what appeared to be 

 the falciform ligament was seen to pass from the gizzard 

 between the two lobes of the liver to the sternum. A 

 further dissection, however, showed that this apparently 

 single membrane was double, a wide space between the two 



* Beddard, ^On the Structural Characters and Classificatiou of the 

 Cuckoos," P. Z. S. 1885, p. 168. 



t Beddard, " Ou the Anatomy of an Australian Cuckoo {Sci/throps 

 novce-holkmdice);' P. Z. S. 1898, p. 44. 



