ON CARPOPHAGA LATRANS. 429 
71. NOTE ON THE GIZZARD AND OTHER ORGANS OF 
CARPOPHAGA LATRANS.* 
In the collection of birds preserved in spirit by H.M.S. “ Challenger” Page 102. 
is the body, after the skin had been removed, of a single specimen of 
Carpophaga latrans, together with the gizzard of a second individual 
of the same species, obtained at Kandavu, Fiji. These form the 
material for the present communication. 
Tn his note-book Mr. John Murray makes the following remarks on 
the speciest : ‘‘ Stomach contained the fruit of some tree unknown to 
me. The coat of the stomach had hard papilla-like ossifications of a 
circular form, two or three rows. ... These indurations are com- 
posed of a horny substance ”—from which itis seen that Mr. Murray 
was the first to recognize the existence of the strange arrangement to 
be here described. 
The thin-walled and capacious crop contained only one thing in 
its interior—a complete fruit, which has been identified for me by 
Mr. W. T. Thiselton Dyer, as that of Oncocarpus vitiensis. In the 
gizzard was also found a portion of a second example of the same 
- fruit. 2 
Oncocarpus vitiensis is a tree belonging to the natural order Ana- 
cardiaceze, which, according to Dr. Seemannf, is “ about sixty feet high, 
bearing large oblong leaves and a very curious corky fruit, somewhat 
resembling the seed of a walnut.” The tree is included among those 
which are poisonous by the Fijians; and its sap produces an intense 
itching of the skin, when brought into contact with it, whence the 
native name Kau Kuro or itch-wood. - 
For the crushing of this very hard fruit a special anatomical 
modification of the gizzard-walls of this Fruit-pigeon is developed, 
which is peculiarly interesting and tends to prove the plasticity of 
organs when aberrant forces come into play. 
The gizzard is not developed to anything like the extent that it is 
in the Galline or Anseres, but, as in most Carpophagine birds, is Page 103. 
small, and has its muscular walls comparatively ill-developed. No 
stones of any kind were found in it. 
It is the epithelial lining which is so peculiar in Carpophaga 
* “ Proceedings of the Zoological Society,’ 1878, pp. 102-5. Read, Jan. 15, 
1878. 
+ Vide “ Proceedings of the Zoological Society,” 1877, p. 737. 
t Seemann’s “ Mission to Viti,” p. 334. 
