1866.] 



Dr. John Davy on the Bones of Birds, 



301 



the state of the humeri and femora was very similar to that of the pre- 

 ceding. The humeri contained only air, the femora only marrow; the 

 lining membrane of the former was finely vascular ; the medullary tissue 

 of the latter abounded in oil-globules and corpuscles suggestive of blood- 

 corpuscles altered. 



III. Of the Pheasant. — Of a female shot on the 9th of October, both 

 the humeri and femora swam in water. Both contained air without any 

 marrow. The former were perfectly white, and no vessels were visible in 

 their lining membrane ; the latter were of a reddish hue, and their lining 

 membrane was beautifully vascular, the vessels delicately ramifying, of a 

 bright florid hue, and anastomosing, and this throughout the whole of 

 the circumference. 



2. Of another female, shot on the 17th of October, the humeri con- 

 tained only air, the femora air with a trace of marrow*. The latter were 

 redder than the former, and their lining membrane was very vascular. 



IV. Of the Goose. — Of one hatched in the spring, which, when ex- 

 amined on the 26th June, weighed eight pounds, the humeri sank in 

 water. They were full of marrow of a light bright-red colour. The 

 quantity collected from one of them was about 82 grs. It exhibited the 

 usual character of medullary cellular structure, and was rich in oil, which 

 in drying exuded copiously from it ; but it contained comparatively few 

 blood-corpuscles or blood-vessels, of which these corpuscles were the 

 index. 



2. Of another hatched on the 22nd of April, which on the 7th of August 

 weighed nine pounds and a half, a humerus dissected out weighed 561 grs., 

 was 7*5 inches in length, and its shaft between '4 and '5 inch in width. 

 It sank in water. Its upper third portion was of a darker hue than its 

 inferior two-thirds. The latter was full of a light-red marrow, abounding 

 in oil. It owed its reddish hue to blood-vessels in the medullary structure. 

 The former, entirely without air, contained a collection of blood-vessels 

 resting on a cancellated structure. These vessels had the appearance of 

 veins, seemed largely varicose, and were full of dark blood, which (ex- 

 amined whilst warm) was still fluid. Of the other wing, the humerus was 

 somewhat different — the difference was in the superior portion. Although 

 the bone sank in water, a little air was found in this portion, and the 

 blood-vessels in it were less distended, and contained, instead of dark blood, 

 aerated blood of a florid hue. The marrow, which occupied about two- 

 thirds of the shaft, terminated abruptly superiorly, and there a pretty large 

 blood-vessel united the two parts — the medullary and the varicose 

 portions. 



3. Of another hatched in the spring, examined on the 31st of October, 

 the humeri contained only air. The lining membrane of its cavity was 

 rich in blood-vessels. 



* It was detected by washing out the cavity of the bone with a weak solution of salt. 

 Oil-globules were found suspended in the solution. 



