414 DR. p. CHALMERS MITCHELL ON THE 



Pterylosis. — An aftershaft is present. There were ten primaries, 

 the most distal being smallest, each covert, as usual, being 

 placed distally to each primary. Dr. Gadow (Vogel, in Bronns 

 Thier-Reich, p. 79) states that there are 11 in Aramits, but in 

 some examples of ^. giganteus and A. scolopaceus which I examined 

 with Mr. W. R. Ogilvie-Grant at the British Museum (Natural 

 History) we found only 10. There are also only 10 in Eurypyga 

 and Rhinochetus. The carpal covert is rather smaller than the 

 carpal remex, and crosses it in the fashion that the secondary 

 coverts cross the secondary quills. A minute plica ties the 

 carpal remex to the most distal secondary quill, and the general 

 disposition bears out the view urged by Degen and myself that 

 the carpal feathers are in series with the secondaries, not with 

 the primaries. The wing is aquintocubital ; the diastaxic gap 

 is wide and is occupied by a covert in the normal fashion. 



The oil-gland is tufted, and there are twelve rectrices. 



The disposition of the feather- tracts, as in ^. scolojyaceus, agrees 

 very closely with Nitzsch's account of Psophia. 



There were very thick clumps of down on the back, especially 

 on the rump. In the fresh condition these gave off some powder, 

 but detailed examination did not show the presence of true 

 decomposing down. The distribution of powder-downs amongst 

 birds is, as is now well known, far too irregular to be of use in 

 systematic classification. 



There are no webs between any of the toes, and the claw of the 

 third digit is unsymmetrical, forming a scoop, slightly notched, 

 but not constituting a definite comb. 



Viscera. — Both carotids are present. The trachea is uncon- 

 voluted ; the riiags are highly ossified, and the normal pair of 

 extrinsic muscles and the intrinsic muscles are both present. 



The configuration of the alimentary tract is of the generalized 

 type that I have shown (Trans. Linn. Soc, Zool. vol. viii. p. 173, 

 1901) to underlie the patterns displayed by Charadriiform and 

 Gruiform birds. The duodenum is a long and narrow loop ; 

 Meckel's tract is suspended at the circumference of a nearly cir- 

 cular expanse of mesentery ; between the duodenum and Meckel's 

 diverticulum there is a single rather wide loop ; the diverticulum, 

 which is large and prominent, is placed on the distal limb of the 

 moderately long axial loop, and the distal portion of Meckel's 

 tract is thrown into thi-ee or four rather irregular short loops. 

 The cfeca are functional, of moderate length, and slightly 

 expanded towards their extremities. The rectum is straight and 

 rather wide. A ganglionated sympathetic nerve chain passes 

 round the mesentery, bending a short way into the more 

 important loops. I have to add to the deso'iption I gave of 

 A. scolopaceus that there are two bridging veins from the 

 duodenal loop to the distal part of Meckel's tract. The example 

 of A. scolopaceus that I examined had been preserved in spirit, 

 and very likely I overlooked the presence of bridging veins. 

 From the evidence afforded by this example of A. giganteus, which 



