.\l,I.Mi:.\T.\RY TIIAC'J OF CEUTAJX BIRDS. ^?> 



ileic loo|) is a double loop, the two eoin])lete vatlier narrow loops 

 being not quite equisized. Anthropoides leucauchen agrees entirely 

 with the other two species, and in all of them the pancreas stops 

 some way in front of the end of the duodenal luop. The existence 

 of three separate loops in the jejunal region is obviously a point of 

 similarity between the Cranes and Rails and of difference between 

 the former and certain other "Alectorides,'' e.g. Oariaraa, Bustard. 



STEfJANOPODES.- — The intestinal tract of a species of Fregata has 

 been examined and reported upon by Dr. Mitchell, who, however, 

 was not in a position to state precisely to wdiich species his 

 observations I'efeiied. I have examined an example of Fregata 

 aquila, and have something to add to the facts enumerated by 

 Dr. Mitchell. He figures and refers to two cpeca. I found only one 

 cfecum, which was short and sessile, upon the gut. The duodenal 

 and ileic loops are simple and of a.bout the same length. The 

 pancr-eas extends only about halfway down the duodenal loop 

 as in Birds of Prey, and the duodeno-ileic ligament is about co- 

 extensive with the pancreas. The duodenum is also connected 

 with the jejunal area by a ligament which I have not found in 

 other birds. 



The condition of the jejunal area is interesting when compared 

 with that of other Dysporomorphous birds. It is. comparatively 

 speaking, short, while that of Coi-morants and Pelicans is long. 

 This comparative shortness is mentioned by Mitchell, who, however, 

 has not seized upon a difference of some significance, as I think it, 

 which this bird shows from its allies. 



In Phalacrocorax and Felecanus (the only other genera which I 

 have examined with reference to the mattei* now under con- 

 sideration) the jejunum is disposed in a consideiable series of 

 closely applied regular fixed loops, as in Ducks, Storks, and some 

 other birds. Fregata presents us with a stage anterior to this. 

 There are no definite and regular fixed loops, but the whole 

 jejunum can be disposed in an irregular circle with bulgings here 

 and there. It is not a simple archaic jejunum, as in the 

 Gallinaceous bird ; but neither is it the much specialised jejunum 

 of other Dysporomorphee. It is hardly more advanced in the 

 direction of its immediate allies than is the corresponding part of 

 the intestine in an Eagle or an Owl. 



The PsiTTACi possess a complicated intestinal tract, which is, 

 as I think, more correctly described by Owen than by Mitchell. 

 i'or it is quite impossible to repi'esent the various loops into which 

 the intestine is drawn in these birds in the fashion adopted by 

 Mitchell, as will be readily seen by a comparison of the 

 accompanying figure with his illustrations of Ara ararauna* and 

 Stringops habroptilus f. Owen mentions the " packet of folds " 

 which are alternately connected as shown in the text-figure 

 appended, while Mitchell represents a series of loops sometimes 

 bifurcate or tiifurcate, though stating that they are " folded 



* P. Z. S. 1896, p. 155, %. '21. 



f Trans. Linn. Sol-., Zodl. (^) viii. )i. 211, fig. '51. 



