102 MR. A. H. GARROD ON CARPOPHAGA LATRANS. [Jail. 15, 



The large cartilaginous three-way piece, in which the trachea 

 terminates inferiorlv, is compound, being formed of several fixed 

 rings. It is complete in frout, being represented behind by a 

 hooked process on either side, extending inwards towards the middle 

 line, where the two nearly meet. The lateral muscles of the trachea 

 extend down to the upper margin of this peculiar syrinx ; and a few 

 of their anterior fibres continue onwards to the surface of the carti- 

 laginous box, where they terminate, sometimes higher and sometimes 

 lower, but always before reaching its inferior margin. 



8. Note on the Gizzard and other Organs of Carpqphaga 

 latrans. By A. H. Garrod, M.A., F.R.S., Prosector to 

 the Society. 



[Received December 3, 1877.] 



In the collection of birds preserved in spirit by H.M.S. ' Chal- 

 lenger ' is the body, after the skin had been removed, of a single 

 specimen of Carpo'phaga latrans, together with the gizzard of a second 

 individual of the same species, obtained at Kandavu, Fiji. These 

 form the material for the present communication. 



In his note-book Mr. John Murrray makes the following remarks 

 on the species 1 :— "Stomach contained the fruit of some tree un- 

 known to me. The coat of the stomach had hard papilla-like 

 ossifications of a circular form, two or three rows. . . . These indura- 

 tions are composed of a horny substance" — from which it is seen 

 that Mr. Murray was the first to recognize the existence of the 

 strange arrangement to be here described. 



The thin-walled and capacious crop contained only one thing in 

 its interior — a complete fruit, which has been identified for me 

 by Mr. W. T. Thiselton Dyer, as that of Oncocarpus vitiensis. 

 In the gizzard was also found a portion of a second example of the 

 same fruit. 



Oncocarpus vitiensis is a tree belonging to the natural order Ana- 

 cardiaceee, which, according to Dr. Seemann ", is " about sixty feet 

 high, bearing large oblong leaves and a very curious corky fruit, some- 

 what resembling the seed of a walnut." The tree is included 

 among those which are poisonous by the Fijians ; and its sap produces 

 an intense itching of the skin, wheu brought into contact with it, 

 whence the native name Kau Karo or itch-wood. 



For the crushing of this very hard fruit a special anatomical 

 modification of the gizzard-walls of this Fruit-pigeon is developed, 

 which is peculiarly interesting and tends to prove the plasticity of 

 organs when aberrant forces come into play. 



The gizzard is not developed to any thing like the extent that it is 



1 Vide P. Z. S. 1877, p. 737. 



2 Seeman's Mission to Viti, p. 334. 



