ON THE NOSTRILS OF THE COEMORANT. 455 



end of the snout it forms almost a straight line ; its edge is at the 

 keel thrown out into a high shoulder, between which and the body 

 lies the shallow, open, rounded sinus, with a narrow triangular 

 shelf between it and the body-whorl: the lip-edge is thin 

 throughout. Inner lip is excavated somewhat deeply and flatly 

 into the thickness of the shell, and runs on to the extreme point 

 of the rather short and oblique pillar, whose inner edge has a long 

 gradual twist. H. 0-37. B. - 2. Penultimate whorl, height 

 0-08. Mouth, height 0'2, breadth 01. 



The classification of this species is not very satisfactory. It 

 may quite well be a Surcula ; but the stained apex deserves 

 stronger recognition than that place would give it. The sculp- 

 ture of the apex is strongly suggestive of Defrancia ; but the shape 

 of the apex is blunter than is characteristic of that group, while 

 the ornamentation is not really reticulate. 



It has some general resemblance to Pleurotoma torquata, Phil. ; 

 but the sculpture is more delicate, and the spire is stumpier than 

 in that species, which also has a sharp-pointed yellow apex with 

 true jDe/5*«wcm-reticulated ornamentation. 



On the Nostrils of the Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carlo). By 

 Professor J. C. Ewaet, M.D. (Communicated by G. J. 

 Romanes,- F.R.S., Sec. L.S.) 



[Eead June 16, 1881.] 



Haying had my attention directed by Mr. Eomanes to the fact 

 that Cormorants during a long flight, and for some time after 

 roosting, hold their heads agape as if panting, and it having 

 been suggested by him that this fact is presumably due to a 

 remarkable condition of the nostril which he had observed, I 

 undertook an anatomical investigation of the latter point with 

 the following results. 



The external nostril is a mere slit situated at the end of a 

 shallow superficial groove, which runs backwards along the beak 

 parallel with its lower edge, and lying between its lower and 

 middle third. When a bristle is introduced into the slit, it never 



