THE IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKER. 221 



elliptical form, directed a little towards the right, somewhat compressed, 1 

 inch 2 twelfths long, and of about the same breadth. The muscular fasciculi 

 on the proventriculus are extremely large. On the stomach also they are of 

 great size, and the greatest thickness of its muscular coat is lj twelfths. 

 This organ is completely filled with very hard seeds of different kinds, and 

 some pulpy matter, but without any insects or larvas. Its inner coat is thin, 

 dense, very tough, nearly smooth, and of a dusky brown colour. The pro- 

 ventricular glandules, which are very small, form a belt 1 inch in breadth. 

 The intestine, d efg h, is of moderate length and very wide. The duodenum 

 curves at the distance of 3\- inches. The pylorus is about two-twelfths in 

 width, with an elevated margin, and allows the untriturated seeds and other 

 refuse to pass into the intestine, which in some parts is turgid with them. 

 The intestine measures 24 inches in length; its width in the duodenal portion 

 is 3i twelfths, and so continues to the length of 12 inches, when it gradually 

 enlarges, so as at the commencement of the rectum to be 6 twelfths. The 

 rectum itself, e g h, continues of that width, and is enlarged into a globular 

 cloaca, h, 1|= inches in diameter. The whole intestine is more or less filled 

 with pulpy matter, together with a vast number of grape seeds and others of 

 a much larger size, but all having a strong shell. Hence it appears that the 

 stomach of this Woodpecker is not adapted for pounding very hard sub- 

 stances, and that the seeds of berries and pulpy fruits pass undigested through 

 its intestinal canal. The same remark applies to all the other species 

 examined. There are no traces of caeca. 



The apparatus, by means of which the tongue of this and other Wood- 

 peckers is protruded and retracted, is so beautiful a specimen of mechanism, 

 and at the same time so perfectly simple, although by bungling describers it 

 has been rendered almost unintelligible, that it may be expedient to present 

 it here in detail, the more especially that this species, although not that in 

 which it is exhibited in the highest degree of development or extension, is 

 yet, as being one of the largest known, peculiarly well adapted for such an 

 examination. Two figures, therefore, are here introduced. 



In Fig. 1 are seen: — The upper and lower mandibles a b, the tongue c d, 

 the terminal barbed portion c, the fleshy part d, the orbit and eye e, the 

 salivary gland f, the hyoid bones g g, the neck h h, the furcula i i, the 

 oesophagus jj, the trachea k, its lateral muscles / /, the cleido-tracheal m m. 



In Fig. 2 are seen: — The lower mandible b, the salivary glands//^ the 

 hyoid bones g g, the oesophagus j jj, the trachea k, the lateral muscles / /, 

 the cleido-tracheal m m, the glosso-laryngeal n n, the muscles by which the 

 tongue is exserted o o. 



The bill of this species, Fig. 1, a b, measures 3 inches and 2 twelfths from 

 the angle of the mouth; and the tongue, c d, which lines in the broad groove 



