^76 Analytical Notices of Books. 



rudimental in the female. After controverting all these different views, 

 the authour states his ov?n opinion, that the Bursa Fabricii is the Urinary 

 Bladder of Birds. His reasoning is grounded on the situation of the 

 organ, and its embouchure in the cloaca; on the frequent occurrence of 

 urine vi^ithin it; on its being furnished with a muscular coat; and on its 

 great development in the foetal state, compared with the gradual diminu- 

 tion which it undergoes in the older birds. It seems probable, however, 

 that in positively affirming this organ to be itself the urinary bladder, the 

 authour has somewhat overstated his own opinion, which may, perhaps, 

 be more accurately collected from the following passage, with which he 

 concludes his paper: — " The cloaca of Birds," he says, " is a Urinary 

 ' " Bladder, into which the rectum opens ; on its anterior side the allan- 

 " tois passes off, in \\\Qfcetns, in the shape of a small process. But the 

 " Bursa Fabricii is also a subdivision of the cloaca, and consequently 

 " a subdivision of the urinary bladder, which, like the allantois, plays an 

 " important part during the state o^ foetus. The bursa bears the same 

 " relation to the entire cloaca, as one of the cornua uteri does to the 

 " entire uterus. In the same light must we consider the bladders of 

 " Amphibia and Fishes, which contain partly urine, and partly peculiar 

 " " secretions. For this reason, I regard the bursa not as an anal gland, 

 " not as a receptacle of the eggs, not as an organ performing an in- 

 " definite function in the one sex, and merely rudimental in the other, 

 " but as a subdivison of the urinary bladder of birds, separated from the 

 " cloaca, serving in the foetal stale especially as a respiratory organ, but 

 " remaining to an after period of life, and containing urine like all 

 " other urinary bladders." 



A second Memoir by M. Constantin Gloger, " zur Naturgeschichte 

 " des Weissbindigen Kreuzschnabels," contains a minute account of the 

 characters, habits and mode of life of the Loxia tcenioptera, Glog., 

 with conjectures as to its original country. This species, single specimens 

 of which have been occasionally met with in Sweden and various parts 

 of Germany, occurred in considerable numbers in Silesia and Thuringia 

 in the autumn of 1826. Although the arguments advanced by the 

 authour in his text tend to prove that its migration took place from Asia 

 rather than America, there can be little doubt, as he himself confesses in 

 a note, that the bird is identical with an American species, Loxia 



