416 Viscount Waldoii on new Species of 



cin-i of the IlolotlmricUc, the dorsal tubiili of tlic Astcridje, 

 and the anibuhieral systems of canals of the class ji^tMierally. 

 In no division of the animal kin'j;dom do the lespiratoiy 

 organs occupy a larger proportion of the whole bulk than 

 they do in the Echinodennata. The great size which the 

 convoluted plate attains in some of the Crinoids is therefore 

 rather more in favour of its being a respiratory than a digestive 

 organ. 



Professor Wyville Thomson says that, inside of the cavity 

 of the stomach of the recent Crinoid Antedon rosaceus, there 

 is a spiral series of glandular folds, which he supposes to be a 

 rudimentary liver (Phil. Trans. 11. S. 1865, p. 525). It is 

 barely possible that the convoluted plate may represent this 

 organ. At present I think it does not. 



I believe that the reason wliy the convoluted plate attained 

 a greater proportional size in the palaeozoic Crinoids than do 

 the sand-canals of the recent Echinodcrms, is that the function 

 of the system of canals (of which they are all appendages) was 

 at first mostly respiratory, whereas in the greater number of 

 the existing groups it is more or less prehensive or locomotive, 

 or both. 



[To be continued.] 



XL VIII. — Descriptions of some neiv Species of Birds from 

 Southern Asia. By Arthur, Viscount Walden, P.Z.S. &c. 



Geocichla layardi^ n. sp. 



The Geocichla of Ceylon is most nearly allied to G. cifrina, 

 (Lath.), of Northern and Central India, and not, as might 

 have been expected, to G. ci/anota, (J. & S.), of Malabar. 

 From Latham's bird it is to be readily distinguished by the 

 much deeper orange of the head and nape, these parts being 

 of the same dark shade of orange-brown characteristic of G. 

 rubecida, Gould, ex Java. On the under surface the orange 

 tints are brighter and richer than in citrina, yet not nearly so 

 dark as in G. riihccxda ; the blue-grey portion of the plu- 

 mage is likewise darker than in G. citrina^ but not so dark as 

 in G. rid>e^ula. In the distribution of the white plumage the 

 three species resemble each other ; they appear, along with 

 G. ruhiginosa, Miiller, ex Timor, to form a small natural sec- 

 tion. Wing 4-2- inches, bill a. 



Described from a single Ceylon example, and which is 

 marked by the collector as " rare." 



