Zoological Society. 



4239 



Professor Owen, in his article on " Birds," above-mentioned, refers to analogous 

 pouches in the pelican, rook, and swift, but I think these receptacles for food bear no 

 resemblance to the supposed faucial pouch ; and it must be remarked that these are 

 not peculiar to the male bird. In my dissection of the females I did not examine 

 the neck, but it will be interesting hereafter to ascertain whether the membrane 

 I have described exists in the female bustards, and in other species of birds.* 



I have also examined the preparation in the Museum of the College of Surgeons 

 (772, Q.), alluded to by Mr. Yarrell, and prepared by Professor Owen in 1848, which 

 clearly shows that there is no connexion with the pharynx and this supposed gular 

 pouch. Mr. Yarrell, in his paper, speaks of a thin membrane over the windpipe. 



On the Anatomy of the Viscera and other parts of the American Tapir, 

 (Tapirus Americanus). 



I have had an opportunity of dissecting three of these animals that have died at 

 the gardens of the Society during the last eighteen months, and have taken sketches 

 of the viscera and of other parts (before the Society), which appeared to me to offer 

 points of special interest. The subjoined table gives in a short space the cause 

 of death ; the supposed weight ; the length of the animals, and of the alimentary 

 canal, as well as the weight of the viscera. The examinations were conducted by 

 myself, and the organs weighed by steel-yards, accurately tested. 



Male, No. 1. Female, No. 2. Male, young, No. 3. 



Age 5 years. 5 years. about 3 years. 



Weight about 4 cwt. about 3^cwt. about 140 lbs. 



Weight of Viscera. 



Lungs 41bs. 6 lbs. 6 oz. 2 lbs. 4 oz. 



Heart 2 „ 12 oz. 3 „ 6 „ „ 13 „ 



Liver 4 „ 6 „ 4 „ 3 „ 15 „ 



Spleen 1 „ 13 „ 2 „ 12 „ „ 8 „ 



Kidney „ 13 „ „ 8 „ „ 7 „ 



Length of Alimentary Canal. ..62 feet. 72 feet. 46 feet. 



Length . 6 ft. 5 in. Length 4 ft. 5 in. 



Gut 4 ft. 10 in. 



Brain-symptoms, Inflammation of 



Died of perforation of stomach, from from diseased kidney, mucous membrane 



ulceration. probably. of bowels. 



Mr. Yarrell, in the ' Zoological Journal,' (1828, 1829, p. 210), has given an 

 account of the dissection of a small American tapir, about twelve months old, that 

 died at the Regent's Park Gardens. In this animal the small intestines were only 21 

 feet. Mr. Yarrell refers to Sir E. Home's account of the Sumatran tapir in the 

 ' Philosophical Transactions,' 1821, and, on comparison, he infers that in the latter 

 animal the stomach is large, the ccecum small, and the intestinal canal very long ; 



* Since this paper was read, I have seen the very interesting communication of 

 Mr. Yarrell upon this subject in the ' Transactions of the Linuean Society,' 1853 ; to 

 this paper I refer the reader for much interesting information respecting this bird. 



