( 593 ) 



WHITE IBIS. 



Ibis alba, Vieill. 



PLATE CCXXII. Vol. III. p. 173. 



In a female preserved in spirits, the roof of the mouth is flattened, 

 with an anterior median longitudinal ridge ; and the two sides or crura 

 of the lower mandible are united for more than half their length from 

 the tip. The tongue is triangular, extremely short, being only 5| twelfths 

 in length, flat, and extremely thin, broadly emarginate and papillate at 

 the base, the two lateral papillae much larger, its upper surface covered 

 with numerous small crypts, its tip obtusely pointed. The posterior 

 aperture of the nares is linear, with an anterior slit. The mouth is ra- 

 ther narrow, being only 7 twelfths in width. The tongue and the ge- 

 neral form of the mouth are thus similar to those of the Spoonbill ; and 

 the former is entirely different from that of the Curlews and Snipes, to 

 which this genus approaches in the form of the bill. The apertm'e of 

 the ear is remarkably small, its diameter being only 1^ twelfth. 



The oesophagus, Fig. \, abcd,i?, 11 inches long, wide, like that of a 

 Heron, its diameter varying from 1 inch to 1^ inch, being greater at the 

 lower part of the neck, and contracting to 9 twelfths as it enters the thorax . 

 The stomach, defg, is large, muscular, broadly elliptical, 2\ inches long, 1 

 inch 10 twelfths in breadth ; the lateral muscles strong, the inferior very 

 large. The duodenum, g h i, curves in the usual manner, returning upon 

 itself at the distance of 3J inches ; its width 4^ twelfths. There is a 

 small gall-bladder about ^ inch long, and two biliary ducts ; beyond the 

 entrance of which the intestine forms several convolutions, and pre- 

 serves a nearly uniform width throughout. The rectum is 3 inches long, 

 and the coeca. Fig. 2, c c, are reduced to the minimum size, being only 

 1^ twelfth in length. In this respect, as well as in the structure of the 

 stomach, this bird diflPers entirely from the Herons, to which it. approxi- 

 mates in the form of the oesophagus, although not in that of the tongue. 

 The contents of the stomach are remains of cray-fish and aquatic 

 insects. Its epithelium is thick, tough, longitudinally rugous, but not 



VOL. v. P P 



