4-2 



each other and to the stem assumed a uniforin waxy appearance, 

 and broke doun beneath the needle without exhibiting any traces 

 of organization. This circumstance had nearly induced Mr. Gray 

 to abandon his search, had he not discovered that by mactJrating 

 in water, and thus removing the spirit, the polype \vas restored to 

 its natūrai gelatinous consistence, in which statė it \vas readily ex- 

 panded and observed. Minute, pellucid, oval bodies, \vhich are 

 perhaps similar to the irregular papillary spiciiLe found in the bark 

 of Gorgonin, are scattered through the bark of this species of ^Jiiti- 

 pathes, and the tixcs of its smaller branches are minutely tubular. 



In Eliis's ' History of Zoophytes' is given a figure of wliat the au- 

 thor regarded as the polype of Ant. spiralis, vvhieh he found scattered 

 over the stem of that species in the shape of small distant warts. 

 These when soaked in water he describes as having six tentacula 

 surrounding a small cup. The teiitacula^ he observes, in a letter to 

 Linnajus, published in the ' Correspondence' of that naturalist, are 

 shaped likę a bull's horns, with vvrinkles across, and full of gelati- 

 nous matter ; and the cup is of a most elegant figure. In the figure 

 this part appears to be concave, with a crenated edge, and placed 

 on an urn-shaped pedicel. Should this account of the polt/pe of 

 ./int. spiralis prove to be correct, it would be necessary to remove 

 that species from the neighbourhood of the Gurgonia and cther 

 barked Corals, from all of whicli it would diifer so remarkably in 

 its cup-shaped appendage, and the want of ciliation on the surface 

 of its tentacula. Mr. Gray added that he had repeatedly examined 

 the stem of the species in question, but had never been able to dis- 

 cover on it anything resenibling a polype. The earlier observations 

 of Rumphius, Marsigli, and Palias, the former on Ant. spiralis and 

 the two latter on Jnt. dichotonia, were of too vague a character to 

 furnish any idea of the real structure o? the polype. 



Mr. Owen read the follovving account of the anatomy of the 

 Ariel Toucan, Ramphastos Ariel, Vig. 



" Independently of the beauty of the plumage and singularity of 

 the form of the Toitcans, the peculiarity of some of their habits and 

 aciions renders theni extrcmel)' interesting to the naturalist while in 

 the living statė, and not less desiiable in connexion with the doubts 

 respecting their natūrai food, as objects of anatomical investigation 

 after death. These doubts, hovvever, have already been in a great 

 measure dispelied by the observations on the living Toucan, which 

 \ve owe to Mr. Broderip (Zoological Journal, vol. i. p. 484.), and 

 by the subseąuent remarks of Mr. Vigors (Ibid., vol. ii. p. 466.) on 

 the present individual, which for some time formed a principai or- 

 nament of his choice collection. 



" The alimentary canal of the Toucan is short and simple, but has 

 a general character of capacity which accords with the peculiar 

 form of beak at its commencement. The cesophagus is 7 inches in 

 length ; it is at first 1 inch in Hidth, and becomes slightly narrower 

 to its termination. It is unprovided with a crop, and not to be 

 distinguished very readily from the proventriculus, as thdt cavity 



i 



