of the Ornithorhynchus paradoxus. 
75 
Description of the internal Parts. 
The panniculus carnosus, which lies immediately under the 
skin, and extends over the greatest part of the body, is exceed- 
ingly strong. 
The tongue is two inches long; it lies in the hollow between 
the two jaws, but does not project any way into the bill, being 
confined to its situation, except a very small portion at the tip. 
It is smallest at the point, and becomes larger towards the root ; 
the posterior portion becomes very large, and rises considerably 
higher than the rest, forming a projection, on the anterior part 
of which are the two small teeth already mentioned. The 
tongue is covered with short cuticular papillae, the points of 
which are directed backwards. 
The velum pendulum of the palate is very broad. The glottis 
is uncommonly narrow; and the epiglottis proportionally small. 
The rings of the trachea are broad for their size ; they do not 
meet behind, but nearly so. The tongue and epiglottis are re- 
presented in Plate II. Fig. 2. 
In the structure of the bones of the chest, there are some 
peculiarities which deserve notice. 
The ribs are sixteen in number : the six superior are united 
to the sternum, which is narrow and very moveable ; the other 
ten terminate anteriorly in broad, flattened, oval, bony plates, 
which overlap each other in the contracted state of the chest, and 
are united together by a very elastic ligamentous substance, which 
admits of their being pulled to some distance ; so that the capa- 
city of the chest can undergo a very unusual degree of change. 
The ribs are not connected to the sternum by their cartilages, 
as in other quadrupeds, but by bone ; the cartilaginous portion 
MDCCCIL L 
