304 MR. W. A. FORBES ON THE [Apr. 17, 
was now stated to weigh 431b., and to be in excellent health and 
condition, although it had been twice seriously ill. 
Mr. Sclater took this opportunity of recording the fact that this 
was not the first living example of the Gorilla that had been brought 
to Europe alive, as was shown by the following note from Mr. A. D. 
Bartlett, the Superintendent of the Society’s Gardens :— 
“In the year 1861, I saw in the collection of the late Mr. Chas. 
Waterton a mounted specimen of a young Gorilla. It had been pre- 
pared from an individual that had been exhibited alive in the No. | 
Collection of Wombwell’s travelling menagerie, where it had lived 
upwards of 7 months’. 
*« Mrs. Wombwell’s daughter subsequently lent me a photograph of 
this animal, which had been taken during its lifetime. This photo- 
graph I showed to Prof. Owen, and afterwards lent to Mr. Wolf, 
who, I believe, used it to assist him in a drawing of the Gorilla, 
About two years since I sent the photograph back to the owner (Mrs. 
Fairgrieve), who was then living at Lauriston in Edinburgh.” 
Mr. Sclater exhibited the very beautiful chalk drawing by Mr, 
Wolf (see Plate XXXV.) which had been prepared from the photo- 
graph in question, and pointed out that there could be no doubt that 
Mr. Bartlett’s statement of the animal having been a young Gorilla 
was correct. Mr. Waterton’s collection was, he believed, now at 
Ushaw College, Durham, where, no doubt, the stuffed specimen was 
still to be seen. 

The following papers were read :— 
1. On the Bursa Fabricii in Birds. 
By W. A. Forsss, F.Z.S. 
[Received March 13, 1877.] 
Prof. Garrod, in his paper on Plotus anhinga (P. Z. 8. 1876, p. 
344) says :—“ In the urino-genital system of Pletus anhinga, in both 
sexes, the ducts open in the normal manner into the cloaca, just 
above its lower orifice. This orifice, however, is not on the surface, 
but is into a cavity behind the cloaca, which opens exter- 
nally quite close to the place where the two communicate. Ex- 
cept for the nearly marginal orifice, the second cavity is a ceecal sac, 
oval in shape, and about 13 inch high, covered at its blind end with 
the crypts of shallow glands, which also run down its sides. 
That it is a modification of the dursa Fabricii cannot be doubted.” 
The disposition of the parts described above seemed peculiar enough 
to be worthy of further investigation ; with that end my kind friend 
Prof. Garrod requested me to undertake a series of observations on 
the bursa in other birds, in order to throw further light on the 
structure of this organ, and to discover what characters, if any, it 
afforded for classificational purposes. The ample materials of the 
1 @f. Gray, P. Z.S. 1861, p. 278. 
