554 CAPT. G. E. SHELLEY ON [NoV. 18, 



miual veins which unite behind into a single trunk after receiving 

 branches from the allantoic bladder, and two branches (epigastric 

 veins) from the iliac veins ; anteriorly the right vein atrophies, and 

 the left is distributed to the liver. 



In the Saurians there are also primitively two allantoic veins. 

 "They unite with two epigastric veins (homologous with those in 

 Amphibia), which connect them with the system of the posterior 

 cardinal veins. The left of the two eventually atrophies, so that 

 there is formed an unpaired allantoic vein. This vein at first 

 receives the vena cava inferior close to the heart, but eventually the 

 junction of the two takes place in the region of the liver, and 

 finally the anterior abdominal vein (as it comes to be after the atrophy 

 of the allautois) forms the portal system and breaks up into capillaries 

 in the liver." In the Crocodiles and Chelonians both anterior abdo- 

 minal veins appear to persist. I have quoted these passages from 

 Balfour because they express clearl}', and at the same time briefly, the 

 relations of the anterioi' abdominal vessels in the adult as well as the 

 foetus of the various groups of Vertebrata, and may serve for comparison 

 with the following account of what appears to me to be a similar 

 structure in Echidna. On opening the body-wall of Echidna I at 

 once noticed the presence of a large vein running along the ventral 

 wall of the body in very close connexion with it ; posteriorly this 

 vessel (which was very conspicuous from being full of blood, and was 

 no mere fibrous ligament) arises from a vascular network upon the 

 under surface of tlie bladder. Anteriorly the vein passes down from 

 the body-wall and is distributed to the left half of the liver. I am 

 not able to state with certainty whether there is any connexion with 

 the veins of the limbs, but am inclined to believe that there is not. 



There seems to me to be no doubt that this blood-vessel really cor- 

 responds to the anterior abdominal vein of the lower Vertebrata and 

 to the allantoic vein of the mammalian I'ostus ; its occurrence in 

 Echidna is another fact among many which show that the Mono- 

 tremata have preserved more of the ancestral_characters than any 

 other family of the Mammalia. 



5. On five new or little-known Species of East- African Birds, 

 represented in Mr. H. H. Johnston^s First Collection 

 from the Kilimanjaro District. By Captain G. E. 

 ShelleYj F.Z.S. 



[Eeceived November 5, 1884.] 



(Plate LI.) 



Mr. Johnston's first collection of 94 skins having been placed in 

 my hands by the Kilimanjaro Committee of the British Associ- 

 ation, I have considered it advisable, not only to describe at once 

 three species which I consider \\exs\ but also two others which are 

 well represented in the present valuable collection, and have been 



