141 



August 28, 1832. 

 Dr. Marshall Hall in the Chair. 



Mr. Owen read the following Notes on the Anatomy of the Fla- 

 mingo, Phcenicopterus ruber, Linn.: thev were derived from the ex- 

 amination of an individual which died about three months since in 

 the Society's Menagerie. 



" The anatomical differences observable in the groups of the 

 Wading Birds are so considerable, that we find them generally alluded 

 to by Cuvier in the characters of the families of the Grallatores in 

 the ' Regne Animal.' Where they are omitted, we may presume that 

 the illustrious author had not had the opportunity of examining the 

 internal structure of the birds in question, and that they either had 

 not before been dissected, or that their anatomy had been described 

 with too little exactness to warrant his giving it on the authority of 

 previous writers. 



"This appears to have been the case with the three genera which 

 he has placed at the end of the order, viz., Chionis, Forster, Glareola, 

 Gmel., and Phcenicopterus, Linn.; and these are the most interesting 

 in an anatomical point of view, as being the representatives of as 

 many distinct families. With respect to the Flamingo, we must sup- 

 pose thatan opportunity of dissecting it had never occurred to Cuvier, 

 and probably the absence of any allusion to cteca in Perrault's anato- 

 mical description (Memoires de I'Academie, t. iii,, 3. P., p. 462.), 

 may have influenced his silence regarding the internal structure of a 

 bird which he considers as one of the most extraordinary and most 

 isolated of its class. 



"The recent death of a male specimen which for a short time was 

 living at the Society's Gardens, enables me to lay before the Committee 

 ■some particulars respecting its anatomy which appear to throw light 

 on its true affinities. 



"The peculiar forms of the beak and tongue have long attracted 

 attention, and have been repeatedly described. Cuvier, in allusion to 

 the small tooth-like himince which are arranged along the margins of 

 the upper mandible, points out the relation which in this particular 

 the Flamingo bears to the Anatidce; and a like correspondence is 

 observable in the rest of the alimentary canal. The horny den- 

 ticles of the upper mandible, and the transverse marginal furrows of 

 the lower mandible, form together a sort of filter, and, like the plates 

 of IVhalebone in the Balcence, allow the superfluous moisture to drain 

 away, while the small Mullusca and other littoral animalcula are de- 

 tained and swallowed. The structure of the gullet is in accordance 

 with the size of the substances which serve for nutriment. In the 

 typical Grallatores, as Aiden and Ciconia, which swallow entire fish 

 and other food in large morsels, the oesophagus is remarkable for its 



[No. XXIL] ZooL. See. Proceedings of the Comm. of Science. 



