GLOSSY IBIS. 425 
bare for inspection without injuring them. Space appears to 
have been considered of much value in preparing these mum- 
mies, and every means was used to secure them within the 
least possible.compass, by bending and folding the limbs one 
upon another. The neck is twisted so as to bring the crown 
of the head on the body, a little to the left of the stomach, 
the curved bill with its convexity upward is placed between 
the feet, thus reaching beyond the extremity of the tail: each 
foot with its four claws turned forward, one bent upward and 
elevated on each side of the head; the wings brought close 
to the sides, much in their natural position. In separating 
them to discover the interior, nothing of the viscera nor any 
of the soft parts remain, the bones exhibit no traces of muscle 
or tendon adhering to them, and the joints separate at the 
least touch. Most of these mummies, it must be admitted, 
are not of the species of which we are writing (and which 
also is but seldom represented hieroglyphically), but of the 
white kind, which was more venerated, the Ibis religiosa of 
Cuvier; and some authors even’ deny that a well-authenti- 
cated black ibis has ever been unwrapped. Complete birds 
even of the white species are extremely rage. Cuvier obtained 
the entire skeleton from an embalmed subject, and Dr Pearson 
was so fortunate as to discover the perfect bird in two brought 
among other mummies from Thebes. ‘They have been accu- 
rately described in the scientific journals of England under 
the name of true Egyptian or Theban ibis. The Hgyp- 
tian ibis of Latham is, however, nothing but the Tantalus 
abis. 
Buffon by means of his mummies was enabled to verify the 
real size of the ibis, and as he found two bills entire among 
those he examined, he settled the genus to which the sacred 
bird belonged, and stated very correctly that its place was 
between the stork and the curlew, where later naturalists have 
arranged it. But it is to be regretted that a preconceived 
opinion should have so blinded him that he could not see the 
furrows of the upper mandible, which do exist in a very 
