154 



ON LEPTOSOMA. DISCOLOR. 



P.Z.S. 1880, 

 p. 470. 



dicated externally at the commencement of the duodenum. Internally 

 it is lined with rather soft epithelium, which is concentrically striated. 

 In the present example the stomach contained hairs, apparently of lepi- 

 dopterous larvae, and the horny jaws and other hard parts of insects : 

 many of the smaller hairs had become impacted in the soft lining of the 

 stomach, so that this at first sight appeared to be villous. The same 

 appearance has often been described in our common Cuckoo *. 



The intestines in all measure 12 inches, of which 2| are " large ; " 

 they are not markedly capacious. The caeca f are long and cylindrical in 

 shape, largest apically, and slightly tapering towards their bases ; they 

 measure respectively 2| and 2| inches. The liver has the left lobe much 

 the smallest ; there is a distinct gall-bladder. 



There is thus nothing striking or characteristic about the alimentary 

 canal. In the possession of large cylindrical caeca, Leptosoma agrees with 

 both Coraciidae (including Bracliypteracias and Geobiastes} and Cueulidse, as 

 also in most of the other points noted. In the Cuckoos, however, the 

 gall-bladder is said to be absent as a rule J. 



Fig. 2. 



Wing-muscles of Leptoswnd. 



Termination of the tensor patagii brevis (t.p.br.} in Leptosoma. e.m.r., the fleshy belly 

 of the superficial layer of the extensor metacarpi radialis longior muscle ; t, the 

 tubercle on the humerus, whence it arises ; above it the humerus. P, the pata- 

 gium, its dorsal layer having been removed to show the muscles, &c. 



* Cf. Hunter's Essays and Observations, ii. p. 285 &c. 



t Figured, with other parts of the intestinal canal, by M. Milne-Edwards, I. c. 

 pi. 88. 



\ Owen, Anat. Vert. ii. p. 177. Gadow also states its absence in Cuculus. Hunter, 

 on the other hand, found it, though " very small," in C. canorus (1. s. c. p. 285). Ac- 

 cording to the plates in Grandidier's work, Coua gigas has a gall-bladder (pi. 63) ; so 

 has Geobiastes sqiiamigera (pi. 99. fig. 2). 



