1862.] DR. E. CRISP ON THE ANATOMY OF TROCHILUS. 209 
Woodpeckers, reached the anterior part of the head. The thoracic 
and abdominal viscera, when viewed in situ, presented nothing ab- 
normal either in form or position. I failed to discover a gall-bladder. 
The brain weighed 3 grains, forming a large proportional amount to 
the body (,1;); the alimentary canal measured 3} inches. 
The crop membranous and capacious; the gizzard moderately 
thick, with a soft cuticular lining. A small elevated spot was ob- 
served (under the microscope) on the surface of the rectum, which 
probably was the rudimentary appendix. 
The trachea consisted of about sixty rings, and the left bronchus 
of forty—the latter being nearly the length of the trachea. The 
ovary very small. The os hyoides long and very muscular, extend- 
ing, as before stated, to the space between the orbits. The tongue 
from the base of the os hyoides fourteen lines in length, the bifid 
portion being eight lines. This latter part appeared to be composed 
of two elastic cylinders having a membranous web on their inner 
sides; these webs towards their extremities, as seen in the drawing, 
present a shreddy, torn appearance, the torn portions being of a 
triangular shape, their bases towards the cylinders. These cylinders 
were not hollow, but composed of a solid cartilaginous material. 
The eyes measured two lines in diameter, and weighed about one 
grain. 
Skeleton.—The enormous depth of the sternum in this little bird 
at once excites attention. The sternum is of a triangular shape, its 
anterior and deepest portion measuring four lines, its length 63 lines: 
the cervical vertebree twelve, the coccygeal five, ribs seven ; flat, broad, 
and thin. The depth of the sternum and the great proportional size 
of the pectoral muscles probably exceed those of any other bird, 
judging from the sterna of several hundred species of birds that I 
have inspected. The humerus very short, one line; carpus two lines ; 
metacarpus two lines ; phalanges 3 lines ; femur two lines ; tibia four 
lines ; tarsus 13 line; longest toe three lines; the claws curved and 
sharp. The bones of this bird did not contain air. 
Remarks.—I have been somewhat minute in the description of 
the measurements of the skeleton, because it is only by comparison 
with the skeletons of other birds that any practical and useful results 
can be arrived at. The shortness of the humerus is one remarkable 
feature ; and in this respect there is a great resemblance to the same 
bone in the Swifts(Cypseline). It is curious that this bone in our com- 
mon Swift (Cypselus apus), although of very small size, contains air. 
By some it will be thought singular that the very swift-flying bird 
the Humming-bird should have no air in its bones; but when we 
consider, as 1 have stated in my papers upon this subject in our 
‘ Proceedings’ (1857, pp. 9 and 215), that the bones of two of our 
swiftest-flying birds—the Swallow and Martin—contain no air, the 
absence of it in the bones of this bird will appear less remarkable. 
In the first paper alluded to (p. 12), I have stated that Professor 
Owen, in his ‘ Lectures on Comparative Anatomy,’ vol. ii. p. 34, 
temarks that the Swifts and Humming-birds are said “ ¢o have air 
in every bone of the skeleton, down to the phalanges of the claws.” 
Proc. Zoou. Soc.—1862, No. XIV. 
