544 



MR. V. E BEDDARD ON THE 



[Nov. 18, 



de Madagascar,' but the letterpress has not yet appeared ; M. Milne- 

 Edwards no doubt intends to describe the osteology, and for that 

 reason I have not entered into any description of it in the present 

 paper. 



External Characters. — Nitzsch does not refer to the condition of 

 the oil-gland in his account of the pterylosis of Scopus, merely 

 remarking its presence. In the two specimens before me the oil- 

 gland is distinctly tufted, and has three orifices at its free end. I 

 may also mention that there are 12 rectrices, and that the contour- 

 feathers are furnished with an aftershaft. 



Visceral Anatomy. — The tongue is comparatively small and trian- 

 gular, agreeing in this respect with Cancroma and Balceniceps alone 

 among the Ardeidae ; the other genera of the family possess a long 

 slender tongue, extending nearly as far as the mandibular symphysis ; 

 the tongue in the Ciconiidse is much as in Scopus. 



There is no crop ; of the liver the right lobe is larger than the 

 left ; there is a conspicuous gall-bladder present, its duct opening 

 on to the ascending loop of the duodenum. 



There are two carotids with the normal course running up the 

 neck side by side in the hypapophysial canal. 



Both jugulars are present, the right larger than the left. 



The syrinx is displayed in the two accompanying drawings 



Fig. 1. 



Syrinx of Scopus umbrctta. 

 a, from before ; b, from the side. 



(figs, a, b). There are a pair of intrinsic muscles inserted on to the 

 second bronchial ring (fig. 1), fanned out at their attachment; the 

 first bronchial rings are ossified, and closely applied to the preceding 

 rings of the trachea ; the rings of the bronchi are incomplete internally 

 and united by membrane; there is a well-developed bony pessulus, a 

 prolongation of the last tracheal ring. The bronchidesmus, as Prof. 

 Garrod has termed the fibrous membrane uniting the two bronchi, is 

 incomplete, not extending as far forward as the point where the two 

 bronchi bifurcate. The syrinx of Scopus is therefore net at all Stork- 



