;i4i TECULIAR ORGAI^rZATlOrNS. 



III. As a particularity, yet appertaining to more species 

 ?than one ; and also as strictly mechanical ; we may notice 

 a circumstance in the structate of the daws of certain 

 birds. The middle claw of the heron and cormorant, is 

 toothed and notched like a saw. (PI. XXV. fig. 1, 2.) 

 These birds are great fishers, and these notches assist 

 them in holding their slippery prey. The use is evident; 

 but the structure such, as cannot at all be accounted for 

 by the effort of the animal, or the exercise of the part. 

 Some other fishing birds have these notches in their hills; 

 and for the same purpose. The gannet, or Sol and goose, 

 has the &ide of its bill irregularly jagged, that it may hold 

 ■its prey the faster. Nor can the structure in this, more 

 than in the former ca^e, arise from the manner of employ- 

 ing the part. The smooth surfaces, and soft flesh of fish, 

 were less likely to notch the bills of birds, than the hard 

 bodies upon which many other species feed. 



We now come to particularities strictly so called, as be- 

 ing limited to a single species of animal. Of these I shall 

 take one from a quadruped and one from a bird. 



I. The stomach of the camel is well known to retain 

 large quantities of water, and to retain it unchanged for a 

 considerable length of time. (PI. XXVI.) This property 

 qualifies it for living in the desert. Let us see, therefore, 

 what is the internal organization, upon which a faculty, so 

 rare and so beneficial, depends, A number of distinct sacks, 

 or bags (in a dromedary thirty of these have been counted) 

 are observed to lie between tlie membranes of the second 

 stomach, and to open into the stomach near the top by 

 small square apertures. Through these orifices, after the 

 stomach is full, the annexed bags are filled from it. And 

 the water so deposited, is, in the first place, not liable to 

 pass into the intestines ; in the second place, is kept separ- 

 ate from the solid aliment ; and, in the third place, is out of 

 the reach of the digestive action of the stomach, or of mix- 

 ture with the gastric juice. It appears probable, or rather 

 certain, that the animal, by the conformation of its muscles, 

 possesses the power of squeezing back this water from the 

 adjacent bags into the stomach, whenever thirst excites it 

 'to put this power in action. 



II. The tongue of the icoodpecher, is one of those sin- 

 gularities, which nature {)iesents us with, when a singular 

 purpose is to be answered. (PI. XXVII. fig. 1 &2.) It is a 

 •particular instrument for a particular use ; and what else 



