36 Shupeldt, Anatomy of the Passenger Pigeon. [ Jan 



Among other observations left us in the account, he said : " The 

 mouth is very narrow, being only 4^ twelfths in breadth, but 

 capable of being dilated to the width of 1 inch by means of a joint 

 on each side of the lower mandible." The "joint" he refers to is 

 the quadrato-mandibular articulation, and, so far as I am aware, 

 the arrangement is the same in all pigeons. He continues by saying 

 that "There are two thin longitudinal ridges on the palate, of 

 which the sides slope upwards. The posterior aperture of the nares 

 is j inch long, margined with pupilke. The tongue is l\ twelfths 

 long, rather broad and sagittate at the base, with numerous small 

 papilla?, but at the middle contracted to 1^ twelfths, afterward 

 horny, very narrow, induplicate, and ending in a rather sharp 

 point." l 



MacGillivray gave the shape of the tongue about as I find it in 

 this specimen. It is distinctly longitudinally grooved upon its 

 dorsal surface in the middle line, while it is convex from side to side 

 ventrally. Posteriorly it is deeply and roundly concaved, the free 

 margin of which is embellished with a fringe of minute and delicate 

 papillae, which are white and about 32 in number. A row similar 

 to these are found upon the posterior free margins of the upper 

 larynx. The rima glottidis is of an elongate, cordate form, with the 

 median apex behind. Its margins are thickened and raised. On 

 its side, the horny part of the tongue measures 14 mm. and its 

 middle longitudinal line 11 mm. Rima glottidis has a median 

 longitudinal length of 5 mm. The laryngeal and hyoidean muscles 

 present nothing peculiar or noteworthy. Behind, the larynx has a 

 transverse diameter of six mm., and each lateral part is rounded 

 posteriorly, being fringed as above described. 



William MacGillivray, when he described the anatomy of Ecto- 

 pistes migratorius for Audubon, was entirely correct when he 

 recorded that "The trachea passes along the left side, as usual in 

 birds having a large crop; its length is 2§ inches; its breadth vary- 

 ing from 2| twelfths to lj twelfths; its rings 105, feeble; the last 

 ring large, formed laterally of two rings, with an intervening mem- 

 brane. Bronchi of about 15 half rings and narrow. The lateral 



i In my former article in ' The Auk ' cited above, I have already given a brief 

 account of the bones of the hyoid arches, so it will be unnecessary to say anything 

 further about them here. R. W. S. 



