LONG-EARED OWL. 



139 



twelfths in length, their greatest diameter 5^ twelfths, their distance from 

 the anus 3 inches and a quarter. The cloaca is of an enormous size, ovate, 2 

 inches long, 1 inch 2 twelfths broad. It contains a calculous concretion 9 

 twelfths long, 7 twelfths broad, and 3 twelfths thick. 



The trachea, which is 3 inches long, is 3j twelfths in breadth at the upper 

 part, 2^- twelfths in the middle, and 3 twelfths at its lower extremity; its 

 rings about 75 in number, cartilaginous, and considerably flattened. The 

 lateral muscles are strong, the sterno-tracheal moderate, and there is a single 

 pair of very slender inferior laryngeal muscles. Five of the lower rings are 

 elongated, arched, and slit. The bronchi are rather long, of 12 half rings. 



The conch of the ear, Fig. 1, is of enormous size, extending from the level 

 of the forehead over the eye to the chin, in a semilunar form, of which the 

 posterior curve is 3 inches, and the distance between the two extremities in 

 a direct line 1 inch and a half. There is an anterior semicircular flap in its 

 whole length, 5 twelfths in breadth at the middle. The aperture or meatus 

 externus is of a rhomboidal form, 4|- twelfths in length, 3^ twelfths broad, 

 bounded anteriorly by the eye, posteriorly by a ligament extended along the 

 edge of the occipital bone, above by a ligament stretching to the operculum, 

 below the articulation of the lower jaw. Above the meatus is a deep depres- 

 sion covered with skin, above which another ligament stretches across to the 

 operculum. 



In another specimen, a female, the oesophagus is 5^ inches long, its average 

 diameter 11 twelfths. The intestine is 21 inches long, from 2-J twelfths to 



1 twelfth in diameter; the cceca are 2\ inches in length; their greatest diame- 

 ter 4 twelfths; the cloaca still larger than that of the other individuals, being 



2 inches long. 



Fig.l. 



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