ON THE ANATOMY OF THE OPEN-BILL. 153 



been skiagraphed to ascertain whether they were in the process 

 of viviparous reproduction described by Brady *. 



The speaker's views upon the importance and ultimate poten- 

 tialities of this new method of research have been set out at 

 length in the Proceedings of the Royal Microscopical Society (Jan. 

 20th, 1915). At present the definition and resolution of these 

 internal structures is limited by the fact that the original Skia- 

 graph is not a magnification, the magnification being produced by 

 projection ; but it appears more than likely from the experiments 

 of Mr. Barnard that a newer process of Microskiagraphy will, 

 before long, give results which may ultimately yield information 

 of the highest biological value in relation to the structure and 

 functions (behaviour) of simple protoplasmic organisms. When 

 this difficulty has been overcome Messrs. Heron-Allen and Barnard 

 propose to continue these experiments upon living Foraminifera, 

 and they see no reason why, in the near future, the nucleus should 

 not be resolved, and some of its functions photographed in the 

 living condition. 



The Stomach and Intestines of the Open-bill. 



Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell, F.R.S., F.Z.S., Secretary to the 

 Society, exhibited preparations made from two examples of the 

 Indian Open-bill (Anastomus oscitans) which had recently lived 

 in the Society's Gardens, and remarked as follows : — " In dissect- 

 ing these birds I noticed two peculiarities which do not appear to 

 have been described before. The Open-bill is stated to live on 

 shell-fish and the conformation of the bill is described as forming 

 a sifting apparatus. In the stomach there is an elaborate 

 arrangement which would serve as a sifting organ to prevent 

 large particles from passing into the duodenum. The stomach is 

 divided into a soft-walled glandular proventriculus, separated by 

 a constriction from a muscular gizzard, the lining membrane of 

 which consists of a hardened layer of secretion, as in most birds 

 with a gizzard. This communicates by a wide aperture with an 

 elongated, rather small cardiac chamber, which is soft-walled and 

 opens into the duodenum. The wall of the gizzard is raised in a 

 strong, crescentic fold which blocks the aperture into the cardiac 

 chamber, the free margin of the fold being frayed into flat plates 

 placed like the teeth of a comb. The ridge and plates are covered 

 with the hardened secretion lining the general cavity of the 

 gizzard, and particles of food can reach the intestines only 

 after being squeezed through these plates. The gizzard in each 

 specimen was nearly full of large stones. 



The second peculiarity related to the colic cseca. In Herons 

 only one of these is present, but in Storks the normal pair occurs. 

 In both examples of Anastomus, which has always been regarded 

 as a stork, only one of the two cseca was present, as in 

 Balainiceps" 



* J. E. Micr. Soc. 1888, pp. 693-697, pi. x. 



Proc. Zool. Soc— 1915, No. XL 11 



