( 568 ) 



AMERICAN COOT. 



FULICA AMERICANA, GmEL. 



PLATE CCXXXIX. Vol. III. p. 291. 



In an adult male preserved in spirits, the roof of the mouth is nar- 

 Tow, flattened, with two middle series of acute reversed papillae, and 

 two lateral elevated lines extending to the tip ; the lower mandible deep- 

 ly concave ; the edges of both sharp, and the tips narrow but obtuse. 

 The width of the mouth is ^ inch. The tongue is fleshy, thick, 11 

 twelfths long, concave 

 above, with the tip nar- 

 rowed, but roimded. The 

 oesophagus, abc, is 8 inches 

 long, of the uniform width 

 of I inch ; the proventri- 

 culus 9 twelfths in breadth. 

 The stomach, c d e, is a 

 very large, extremely mus- 

 cular, transversely ellipti- 

 cal, oblique gizzard, 1^ inch 

 long, 2 inches in breadth ; 

 its lateral muscles extreme- 

 ly developed, the right 10 

 twelfths, the left 1 inch in 

 thickness ; the tendons ra- 

 diated, and covering nearly 

 the whole surface ; the in- 

 ferior and superior muscles 

 narrow and prominent. Its 

 contents are sand and re- 

 mains of shell-fish. The 

 epithelium forms two large 

 grinding plates, of which 

 the right is concave, the 

 left convex. The intestine, 



