17 
who think of studying avian fundi that it is the wild species of birds 
that present invariable ophthalmoscopic pictures. It will be found 
that, after two or three generations of inbreeding^ confinement and 
domestication, changes occur in the ocular apparatus coincident with 
variations in other parts of the organism. I shall refer to this mat¬ 
ter again. 
The task of picturing the ocular background for the purpose of 
conveying an intelligent idea of its appearance is a serious one; in¬ 
deed, with all the work done upon the eyes of birds, this has been 
almost entirely neglected. The ophthalmologist may be a good ob¬ 
server but a poor artist; conversely, an expert in the use of brush 
and pencil may not be sufficiently conversant with normal and path¬ 
ological, human and comparative ophthalmoscopy and ophthalmol- 
Fig. 6.—Diagram of the fundus (macroscopical, postmortem view) of the 
barred owl (Syrnium nclnilosiim ). N, optic nerve; P, pecten ; AF, macula and 
central fovea. (Slonaker.) 
ogy to enable him to make an intelligent use of his artistic talents. 
These difficulties are, I trust, largely met by an arrangement which 
I have been able to make with Mr. Arthur Head, the well-known 
London artist, who for some fourteen years past has been painting 
both human and animal fundi for confreres here and abroad. In 
conjunction with Mr. Head I have examined many ocular fundi of 
birds, and propose to continue this work until we gather a sufficient 
number of such observations upon the ocular apparatus of birds and 
fishes—particularly of their fundi —as may constitute some slight 
addition to our knowledge of this rather large subject. Inasmuch 
as little or nothing has been so far published in the way of the com¬ 
parative illustration of piscean or avian fundi, I am led to believe 
that the task thus set for Mr. Head and myself may be well worth 
