LARUS TRIDACTYLUS. 329 



This bird I kept in the garden upon flesh for about a month ; and, 

 about four or five days before I killed it, it was taken ill so that it did 

 not eat, but grew worse and worse till I killed it. 



On opening the abdomen I saw a number of white spots ; some on 

 the kidneys, some on the membranous partitions, and others upon the 

 stomach. These I found to be chiefly mould : some parts of them were 

 green, and had a down \_Mucedo~] upon them. This mould must have 

 formed before death ; and, although one can hardly believe it, yet so it 

 must have been ; for it was seen in less than twelve hours after death ; 

 and, if a little could have been produced in that time, yet the whole 

 could not, for some of it was more than a quarter of an inch thick. 

 The membranous partitions were thick and inflamed, and I account for 

 this mould in this way. We know that there is air within the cavity 

 of the abdomen, which is taken in by the wind-pipe, and goes through 

 the lungs ; from thence through the diaphragm into the abdomen. Fow 

 if this air was at all confined, and did not get out, for a supply of fresh 

 to get in, it would certainly putrify the juices that were thrown out by 

 inflammation, and then these juices might become mouldy before 

 death 1 . This is a hint that the air in an emphysema should be let out 

 and not allowed to become putrid. 



The Small Sea-Gull [Larus tridactylus, Linn. 2 ]. 



This is the common sea-gull, which is of a light blue colour, with 

 some black feathers upon its neck, wings, and tail, with black legs and 

 bill. It has no crop. The oesophagus is large, continuing so to the 

 stomach, and rather becoming larger. It is almost impossible to say 

 where the oesophagus ends, or the stomach begins ; for the stomach is 

 not a bit larger than the oesophagus, and its greatest axis is in the 

 same direction ; but there is one mark, which is that the oesophagus 

 becomes much stronger, harder, and thicker just at one part, which 

 distinction becomes more and more towards the bottom of the stomach. 

 The muscles of the stomach are not very strong nor very red, as ■ in 

 granivorous birds 3 . There is a white tendon on each side of the 

 stomach ; the inner coat is horny, but not very hard. 



The duodenum passes out on one side, just below the beginning of 



1 [Owen, ' Anat. of Flamingo,' Proceedings of the Zool. Society, vol. ii. p. 141 

 (1834); Robin, ' Des Vegetaux qui croissent sur les aniroaux vivants,' 1847 ; and 

 ' Lancet,' Aug. 2nd, 1851, p. 101, for a summary of subsequent observations with 

 demonstrations of Enfophyta in living animals.] 



- [Parts of the skeleton of this bird form No. 1236, Hunt. Osteol. Series.] 

 3 [Hunt. Prep. Phys. Series, No. 523, showing the thickening of the muscular 

 coat in a gull which had been fed for a year chiefly upon gram.] 



