162 



Many gallinaceous birds, and especially those 

 of the family containing the genera Crax, Ourax, 

 Penelope, Ortalida y and Opisthocomus, are furnished 

 with a singularly contorted trachea; but as the 

 description of that part relates more to compa- 

 rative anatomy than to zoology, I shall omit it 

 altogether, as the limits of this work will not 

 allow of its being described in all the known 

 species, and as the greater portion of exotic birds 

 arrive in Europe without their carcases, it is ut- 

 terly impossible to ascertain the position in such 

 specimens. Dr. Latham has written a paper on 

 the subject, which is published in the fourth 

 volume of the Linnean Transactions, but the fact 

 was known above sixty years ago, an account of 

 the trachea of the Ourax galeata having been given 

 in the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences for 

 the year 1760, page 376: but though the doctor 

 was not the original discoverer, great merit is due 

 to his observations, as they are often most exten- 

 sively useful in ascertaining doubtful species. 



