536 MESSES. BEDDABD AJVD MITCHELL ON THE [June 19, 



7. On the Anatomy of Palamedea cornuta. By F. E. 

 Beddard, M.A., F.R.S., Prosector to the Society, and 

 P. Chalmers Mitchell, M.A., F.Z.S. 



[Eeceived June 18, 1894.] 



The Horned Scz'eamer which had been in the Society's Gardens 

 since September 9, 1890, having died upon April 5, 1894, we 

 determined to examine its anatomy with some minuteness, as it is 

 a member of a small group of birds about the position of which 

 systematists diifer in opinion. Moreover, although Chauna has 

 been dissected more than once, there is no account extant of the 

 anatomy of the soft parts of Palamedea. 



§ ExTEEKAL Characters. 



Our specimen was a female. The skin was very emphysematous, 

 as in the case of Chauna ; but there were patches of skin not 

 blown out \^ith air upon the under surface of the humerus near 

 the shoulder, and the under surface of the greater part of the arm 

 was similarly undistended. 



The number of rectrices was 14. The wing was quintocubital 

 and the large oil-gland \^as natiform, covered \A'ith feathers and 

 tufted. This tuft did not completely surround the aperture of the 

 gland, but formed an arch over the dorsal and lateral margins of 

 the aperture. From this a median line of feathers bisected the 

 aperture of the gland. All these feathers were black ; two small 

 white feathers form the middle of each half of the lower margin. 



'o* 



§ Viscera oe Abdomen. 



When the body-wall was cut through near the midventral line 

 only the left lobe of the liver was exposed. The falciform liga- 

 ment w^as pressed to the right side and neither lobe of the liver 

 was shut off from the subomeutal space. The omentum was 

 attached to the parietes and to the oblique septa in front up to 

 the level of the proveutriculus. The stomach was covered by an 

 emphysematous patch. 



A large gall-bladder was present. The cystic duct entered the 

 intestine at the summit of the ascending lobe of the duodenum ; 

 next below it, and therefore nearer to the stomach, the hepatic 

 duct entered, and below that again a single pancreatic duct. 



The proveutriculus was large relatively to the gizzard ; the 

 proveutricular glands, clearly visible from the outside, formed a 

 continuous cap interrupted only by the entrance of the oesophagus 

 over the upper end of the proveutriculus. The lower margin of this 

 cap reached to the end of the first quarter of the length of the 

 proveutriculus. 



The small intestine was 8 feet 2 inches in length ; where it 

 joined the large intestine the calibre of the gut increased very 



