33G Mr. W. P. Py craft on the 



bar, of which I shall speak presently, and similarly misinter- 

 preted the form of its accessory cartilage. 



The writer in the 'Zoologist' just referred to may certainly 

 claim to have been the first to attribute this peculiar syrinx 

 to the Jack Snipe, but there his pretensions to fame must 

 end, for the figures which purport to represent the syrinxes 

 of the Jack and Common Snipe are grotesquely inaccurate, 

 while his descriptions must come under the same condem- 

 nation. 



The results of my own investigations may be briefly stated 

 as follows : — 



(1) Jack Snipe. — The syrinx of the Jack Snipe, so far 

 as the evidence goes at present, differs not only from that 

 of all other Scolopacidse but also from that of all other Limi- 

 coline birds in at least one striking peculiarity to be described 

 presently. To begin with, be it noted, it is formed of four 

 more or less completely fused rings, of which only the most 

 cephalad is complete. The remaining three form a gradually 

 expanding series of incomplete rings, giving this end of the 

 windpipe aroughly campanulate form, more strongly marked 

 than in that of any other species of Scolopacidae so far 

 described (text-fig. 6, i^.;*.). Very well. Next comes a still 

 more striking feature. Between this series of fused rings and 

 what seems to answer to the first bronchial semi-ring is a 

 semi-ring so closely bound by connective tissue to the syriu- 

 geal fusion as to seem a part thereof. A little examination, 

 howevei', will shew that this element is not fused therewith. 

 Further^ this semi-ring, as to its ventral end, is cartilaginous, 

 and is attached by a bundle of short fibrous strands to the end 

 of a lingulate plate of cartilage (text-fig. 6, L.c). Caudad 

 this plate rests against the mesial aspect of the ventral end 

 of the second bronchial semi-ring, while it is partly encircled 

 at its middle by the free end of the ventral extremity of 

 bronchial ring I . (text-fig. 6, B.r.I.) . 



An examination of text-fig. 6, which is slightly diagram- 

 matic, will shew the general form and relations of the parts 

 so far discussed better than a mere description would do. In 

 the first place, it will be noted, what answers to the ventral 



