380 Mr. Yarrell on the Trachea of Birds. 



under the name of Feintade Comal, but does not mention the 

 anatomical structure. 



Dr. Parsons has given a representation of the trachea of the 

 Demoiselle {Ardea Virgo of Linnœus) in the 56th volume of the 

 Philosophical Transactions, from which Dr. Latham copied his 

 fioure : but as the true character of this trachea is less perfectly 

 understood by a detached figure, and as this figure moreover is 

 somewhat incorrect in the form of the bronchia, I have ventured 

 to add a drawing of the sternum of this bird with its trachea i>i 

 situ, the better to compare it with the structure of the same part 

 in the very rare bird that will follow. In the present instance, 

 the trachea, quitting the neck passes downward between the 

 branches of the furcula toward the anterior edge of the keel, 

 which is hollowed out to receive it ; into this groove, formed by 

 the separation of the sides of the keel, the trachea passes, and is 

 firmly bound therein by cellular membrane. In the figure an- 

 nexed, a small portion of one edge of the keel is removed, to 

 show the depth of the insertion. The usual form of furcula 

 does not prevail in this bird : it is not here, as in most others, a 

 detached bone, but has the point of union of the two branches 

 firmly ossified to the keel, or may be considered as a prolonga- 

 tion of the keel itself, extended to the head of each clavicle, and 

 affording a firm support to the wing. The peculiar formation of 

 the trachea, and its insertion within the keel of the sternum in 

 this bird, may be considered as exhibiting the commencement of 

 that structure, which, with some modification in a second spe- 

 cies, is carried to its greatest extent in the Cranes. 



One example only of the rare bird above mentioned appears 

 to have been brought alive to this country : and this specimen 

 will be found described and figured by Mr. A'igors in the second 

 volume of the Zoological Journal, page '-234, under the name of 

 Anthropoïdes Stanleyanus. It is fortunate for science, that the 



notice 



