104 



MR. A. H. GARROD ON CARPOPHAGA LATRANS. [Jan. 15, 



by MM. Jules Verreaux and O. Des Mura in Phcenorhina goliath ' 

 of New Caledonia, which *' se nourrit de graines de semicarpum." 

 In this bird " le gesier, deja on ne peut plus musculeux par lui-meme, 

 a sa surface interieure regulierement recouverte . . . de pointes veri- 

 tablement osseuses, rappelant la forme de celles qui se voient a la sur- 

 face du corps de la Raia bouclee, ou Clavel, ou Clavelade. Ces 

 pointes, en cone aplati, ont leur base plane de 5 millim. de diametre, 

 d'une hauteur de 5 a 6 mill., sont legerement incliuees sur elles- 

 memes, et quelquefois recourbees par la dessication, l'extremite en 

 e'tant mousse." A central fibrous peduncle is also said to run 

 through each osseous element. 



Phanorhitia goliath, from what has been said above, therefore 

 differs from Carpophaga latrans in having the cones of the gizzard 

 proportionally longer, at the same time that they are ossified 

 (which necessitates the presence of vessels in the ossification, which 

 appear after death as the fibrous cord) and oblique. There is, 

 however, a great similarity between the two organs. 



I am informed by the Rev. S. J. Whitmee that Carpophaga pacifica 

 in the Samoan Islands feeds on nutmegs, from which it is highly 

 probable that in that species the gizzard-epithelium is modified in a 

 manner similar to that of the Fiji or New Caledonian species. Speci- 

 mens of C. pacifica preserved would therefore be of special interest 

 for the determination of this point. 



Fig. 2. 



Syrinx of Carpophaga latrans. 



With reference to the other parts of Carpophaga latrans, the 

 intestine is very capacious, only nine inches long, and transversely 

 sacculated from the contraction of its outer longitudinal muscular 

 coat, this producing the appearance of thirty bold transverse folds on 

 the mucous surface. There are no colic caeca ; and, as in the genus 

 Carpophaga generally 2 , the gall-bladder is well developed. The 

 liver-lobes are equal in size. 



1 Revue etMagasin de Zoologie, 1862. p. 168. a Vide P.Z.S. 1874, p. 258. 



