1876.] ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF SOUTH-AFRICAN MAMMALS. 2/7 



Psophia it is B,XY, as it is in Cariama (in Chunga B is also ab- 

 sent). In Balearica reguJorum the formula is XY ; in Grus anti- 

 gone it is AB,XY, the femoro-caudal being reduced to almost a 

 thread; in Anthropoides virgo the formula is AB,XY, as it is in 

 Ibis and Platalea, as well as in Eurypyga. Myology therefore 

 does not militate against the Gruine affinities of Aramus. 



Further, as in Grus, the tensor fascia covers the biceps cruris ; 

 the biceps humeri muscle sends a special belly into the patagium ; 

 the expansor secundariorum is Ciconine ; the obturator interims has 

 a triangular origin*. 



Alimentary canal. — The tongue is 2| inches Ion?, very slender, 

 quite smooth, nearly cylindrical, and tapering to a tine point in front. 

 It has a slight papillary fringing at its posterior edge. The oesopha- 

 gus is very capacious, although no crop is developed. The proven- 

 triculus is zonary ; its glands are cylindrical and short. Between it 

 and the gizzard is a capacious dilatation of the termination of the 

 gullet, lined, apparently, with squamous epithelium, the volume of 

 which is greater than that of the interior of the gizzard itself. The 

 gizzard is not large, and its muscular walls are not thick. The liver 

 has the left lobe a little larger than the right, a condition far from 

 common among birds ; the gall-bladder is present. The average- 

 sized, or slightly narrow, intestines are 40 inches in length. The 

 ccBca are somewhat dilated toward their blind ends ; they are 2 and 

 2\ inches long. They are peculiar in being situated laterally, and 

 close together, instead of opposite one another, a condition approxi- 

 mated to in most of the non-columbine Schizorhinal birds, and in 

 them only ; the small intestine therefore enters the colon by a 

 lateral, slit-like opening. In the Cranes the cseca are generally be- 

 tween 5 and 6 inches long ; and they being so much larger, the com- 

 parative size is much the same. In Ibis, Platalea, and Eurypyga 

 they are very much shorter; in Cariama they measure 10 inches, 

 whilst in Psophia their length is much the same as in Aramus. 



2. On the past and present Geographical Distribution of the 

 Large Mammals of South Africa. By T. E. Buckley, 

 B.A., F.Z.S. 



[Eeceived February 7, 1876.] 



After T had made arrangements for an expedition to South Africa, 

 principally for the purpose of sport, in 1873, the University of 

 Cambridge offered me a grant from the "Wort's Fund," on the 

 condition that I should send home a collection of specimens equal 

 in value to the amount of the grant, and should also make a report 

 to the Vice-Chancellor, detailing any observations that I thought of 

 sufficient importance to be preserved. 



As the larger Mammals are yearly receding further into the interior, 

 and as their total extinction is only a question of time, I thought I 



* For further reference to these points, vide P. Z. S. 1876, p. 195. 



