141 



August 28, 1832. 

 Dr. Marsliall Hali in the Chair. 



Mr. Owen read the foUovving Notės on the Anatomy of the Fla- 

 mingo, Phcenicopterus ruber, Linn.: they were deri ved fiom the ex- 

 amination of an individual which died about three months since in 

 the Society's Menagerie. 



" The anatomical difFerences observable in the groups of the 

 Wading Birds are so considerable, that \ve find them generally alluded 

 to by Cuvier in the characters of the families of the Grallatores in 

 the ' Rėgne Animal.' Where they are omitted, we may presume that 

 the illustrious author had not had the opportunity of examining the 

 internal structure of the birds in question, and that they either had 

 not before been dissected, or that their anatomy had been described 

 with too little exactness to warrant his giving it on the authority of 

 previous vvriters. 



" This appears to have been the case with the three genera which 

 he has placed at the end of the order, viz., Chionis, Forster, Glareola, 

 Gmel., and Phcenicopterus, Linn. ; and these are the most interesting 

 in an anatomical point of view, a8 being the representatives of as 

 many distinct families. With respect to the Flamingo, we mušt sup- 

 pose thatan opportunity of dissecling it had neveroccurred to Cuvier, 

 and probably the absence of any allusion to c(eca in Perrault's anato- 

 mical description (M^moires de l'Academie, t. iii., 3. P., p. 462.), 

 may have influenced his silence regarding the internal structure of a 

 bird which he considers as one of the mosi extraordinary and most 

 isolated of its class. 



" The recent death of a malė specimen vvhich for a short time was 

 living at the Society's Gardens, enables me to lay before the Committee 

 Kome particulars respecting its anatomy vvhich appear to throw light 

 on its true affinities. 



" The peculiar forms of the beak and tongue have long attracted 

 attention, and have been repeatedly described. Cuvier, in allusion to 

 the small tooth-like lumince vvhich are arranged along the margins of 

 the upper mandible, points out the relation vvhich in this particular 

 the Flamingo bears to the Analida; and a likę correspondence is 

 observable in the ręst of the alimentary canal. The horny den- 

 ticles of the upper mandible, and the transverse marginai furrovvs of 

 the lovver mandible, form together a sort of filter, and, likę the platės 

 of IVhalebone in the Baltsnce, allovv the superfluous iiMjisture to drain 

 avvay, vvhile the sn;iall Mullusca and other littoral animalcula are de- 

 tained and svvallovved. The structure of the gullet is in accordance 

 vvith the size of the substances vvhich serve for nutriment. In the 

 typical Grallatores, as Ardea and Ciconia, vvhich svvallovv entire fish 

 and other food, in large morsels, the cesophagus is remarkable for its 



[No. XXII.] ZooL. Soc.Prockedings of the Comm. of Science. 



