64 MR. F, E. BEDDARD ON THE 



others, the existence of a primitive type of gut is not without 

 interest. There is in any case no doubt about their difference 

 in this respect from their supposed allies the Rhamphastidee, 

 though it remains to be seen whether they are like Picarian 

 birds of any other groups. These facts and considerations gain 

 additional significance from the quite similar intestinal tract of 

 Geciuus viridis (see text-fig. 17, p. 63). 



Opinions undoubtedly differ as to the geiieric subdivisions of the 

 family Alcedinida?, but Alcedo ispida and Halcyon sancta have 

 been placed in different genera — whether Halcyon or Sattropatis. 

 The intestinal tract is, however, rather different in these two 

 species, though one may be considered to be au exaggeration of 

 the othei'. The simpler of the two is that of Alcedo ispida. 

 In this Kingfisher the duodenal loop is free from the ileic for 

 at least the greater part, and thus conti^asts with most other 

 Picarian birds. The jejunal region lies in a short spiral; but 

 this spiral is not a permanent structure. It can be easily 

 disarranged and spread out into an irregularly shaped loop. 

 There is, in fact, no mesenteric connection between the circles of 

 the spiral. The ileic loop is large, wide, and somewhat irregular, 

 fully as long as the duodenal loop. The spiral of the jejunal 

 I'egion is, it should be added, quite a short one with only two 

 complete turns. 



In Halcyon sancta there are differences in nearly all of these 

 features. The duodenal loop is, however, the same ; it is a simple 

 loop, not particularly wide, and the pancreas extends along it 

 quite to its tree end. I omitted to make any notes about the 

 pancreas of H. vagans. The jejunal region of Halcyon sancta forms 

 a spiral of eight limbs, and is thus, in the first place, much more 

 complex than that of Alcedo ispida. In the second place, this 

 spiral is fixed, and is a perfectly permanent sti-ucture which 

 cannot be unwrapped without tearing the connecting sheets of 

 mesentery. These are two important differences from the spiral 

 found in Alcedo ispida and are, indeed, much greater differences 

 than are known to me to exist between two species of any other 

 genus. The condition of the jejunal section of the small 

 intestine does not, however, exhaust the diffei'ences which even- 

 tually distinguish these two species of Kingfishei's. 



The ileic loop is, as in the last species, quite free from the 

 duodenal ; there is no ileo-duodenal ligament, except perhaps at 

 the very base of the otherwise mutually free loops. The loop 

 is, however, double, as it is, for example, in Grits japo'iiicus *, 

 and as is shown in text-figure 18. Of these two loops, the 

 proximal is the larger and is wide and somewhat irregular in 

 form, and of about the same length as the duodenal. On the 

 whole, it may, as I think, be admitted that the difference which 

 the alimentary tract of this Picarian bird shows from that of 

 other Picarian birds is actually greater than that which exists 



* Vide p. 82. 



