51 



part of the collection of Mr. Gould. This gigantic species of Bustard, 

 the largest yet known of its genus, measures upwards of five feet in 

 height. No figure of it has yet appeared, nor is it described in any 

 of the general works on ornithology j but its characters will be found, 

 together with some other particulars respecting it, in Mr. Burchell's 

 Travels in Southern Africa, vol. i. p. 393. 



The following notes on the anatomy of a male Suricate were read 

 by Mr. Owen : — 



" Since I had the honour to lay before the Committee an account 

 of the anatomy of the female Suricate, her male companion, the only 

 surviving specimen which the Society possessed of this interesting 

 species, has also died. This circumstance, otherwise to be regretted, 

 has enabled me to add the following particulars to that account. 



" The 7-ugce of the (esophagus are longitudinal throughout the 

 whole length of the tube ; — in the Lion, and some others of the feline 

 genus, the rugce are transverse at the lower or terminal half of the 

 oesophagus ; — the cuticular lining is continued about two lines into the 

 cavity of the stomach, where it terminates by a well-defined edge. 

 This viscus, which was found moderately distended, presented no 

 riigt^ on the inner aspect, but was lined by a simply villous membrane, 

 to which layers of coagulated mucus adhered very firmly. The mus- 

 cular coat was thicker, as is usual, at the pijlorus : this aperture was 

 very small, not more than a line in diameter. An inch beyond this 

 part the biliary and hepatic ducts entered by a common orifice. 

 The interior of the small intestines presented a finely villous surface; 

 and in the ilei^m were five patches of glandulce aggregates, about half 

 an inch in diameter, with intervals of four or five inches : the largest 

 of these patches was situated at the termination of the ileum. The 

 apex of the ccecum was occupied by a similar glandular structure. 

 The terminal orifice of the ileum was of a circular form, about two 

 lines in diameter, with a tumid margin, but unprovided with a val- 

 vular structure. In the lining membrane of the short tract of large 

 intestines, villi were not perceptible to the naked eye. The verge of 

 the anus was covered by the apertures of numerous follicular glands, 



*' The disposition and admeasurements of the alimentary canal 

 corresponded with those of the female previously given. The spleen 

 was one-third smaller ; the pancreas had the same peculiar form, re- 

 sembling the neutral symbol of the entomologist 9- The liver had the 

 same minutely mottled aspect which was observed in the female ; but 

 on employing the test of injection, the vascularity of the small bodies, 

 which might have been mistaken for tubercles, became immediately 

 evident, proving them to be the acini of the liver, remarkably dis- 

 tinct in this animal. The inner surface of the gall-bladder and its 

 duct was villous, but without rugce or valvular structure. The tubu- 

 lar structure of the kidneys terminates in a single po'irded papilla : 

 the ureters communicate, and end by a common orifice at the middle 

 of the posterior surface of the bladder. 



" The testes were about the size of horse-beans, and lay upon the 

 pubes ; the integument covering them had not ony distinct appearance 



