510 Mr. F. E. Beddard — Ornithological Notes. 



358. PoDicEPS MINOR (Briss.). 



(738.) P. philippensis (Bonn.), Swinhoe, P. Z. S. 1871, 

 p. 415. 



A very common resident ; breeds at the end of June. 



359. PODICEPS AURITUS (L.). 



(739.) Not uncommon in winter. 



XLII. — Ornithological Notes. By Frank E. Beddard, M. A., 

 Prosector to the Zoological Society of Loudon. 



I. On the Tongue of Zosterops. 

 The tongue of Zosterops has been figured by Dr. Gadow and 

 described in the following words'^ : — '' The simplest form [in 

 the Tenuirostres] is represented by Zosterops. The tongue 

 ends in two short filaments, whilst the greater portion of the 

 tongue proper is not divided : dorsal and ventral aspect 

 smooth, hinder portion of horny sheath projecting backwards 

 with a few (about 3-4) horny spines." 



Dr. Gadow has mentioned the species to which his obser- 

 vations refer as being Zosterops lateralis. I find some little 

 differences in the tongues of Zosterops simplex (of which a 

 specimen has lately died in the Zoological Society's Gardens) 

 and of two individuals of a species which I found among the 

 Prosector's stores labelled " Zosterops from Japan.'' In the 

 tongue of Zosterops simplex the upper surface is not perfectly 

 smooth and flat, but the lateral margins are bent upwards and 

 slightly folded inwards. As shown in the woodcut (fig. 1, 

 p. 511), the upper surface of the tongue is thus converted 

 into a deepish trough, which extends backwards on to the 

 hinder wider section of the tongue for about half its extent. 

 The posterior margin of the tongue is merely concave, not 

 deeply notched, as in Zosterops lateralis; instead of being 



* "On the Suctorial Apparatus of the Teuukostres," P. Z. S. 1883, 

 p. 62 et seq. pi. xvi. fig. 2. Dr. Bowdler Sharpe (' A Review of Recent 

 Attempts to Classify Birds,' Budapest, 1891, p. 86, footnote) says that 

 ** the tongue of Zosterojjs .... has no similarity to the ' brush ' tongue of 

 the Honey-sucker," but does not mention the species to which his obser- 

 vations refer. 



