| OCR Text |
Show 338 MR. F. E. BEDDARD ON [Apr. 15, It has been stated by J. Hancock1 that the windpipe in the male (but not in all males) is convoluted, passing down under the skin right to the anus and then back again. This is a remarkable point, as°it shows an affinity with the Cranes, which are the only nearly allied birds, according to Mr. Forbes's careful list2, with a similar modification. It is curious that Psophia is not included in that list; I have not found any such modification of the trachea myself, nor have I seen any M S . note to that effect of either Mr. Garrod or Mr. Forbes. It is evident that some particular species only shows this modification. Fig. 3. Trachea of Psophia leucoptera. While upon this subject I may direct attention to a paper by Mr. T. S. Trail:!, in which it is said that the trachea communicates directly with the air-space surrounding it by slit-like apertures in the membrana tympani. In spite of the careful observations of Trail, it seems to m e that we are dealing here with an accidental cut. Viscera of Abdomen. The only point to which I direct attention, as being of some bearing upon the question of the affinities of Psophia is the attachment of the gizzard to the parietes and the development of the omentum. I have already pointed out the necessity of taking this structure into account in questions relating to the affinities of different birds. If the comparison which I ' instituted, in part following Huxley ', between this structure and a similar one in the Crocodile be just, it follows that those birds in which the omentum is extensive and continuous on each side with the oblique septum are relatively the most archaic forms; while the partial suppression or great reduction of this structure indicates a more modified type. Arguing thus, the Cranes will have to be relegated to a very low 1 '• Notes on the Trumpeter Bird or Waracoli of the Arowahs of Guiana, Psophia crepitans of Linnaeus," Oharlesworth's Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. ii. 1838, p. 490. 2 " O n the Convoluted Trachea of two Species of Manucodc &c," P. Z. S. 1882, p. 347. 3 " Observations on the habits, appearance, and anatomical structure of the bird named the Trumpeter, Psophia crepitans of Linnaeus, Agami of Cuvier," Mem. Wern. Soc. Ed. vol. v. (1825) p. 523. 1 " Notes on the Visceral Anatomy of Birds.-No. 1. On the so-called Omentum," P. Z. S. 1885, p. 836. 5 " On the Respiratory Organs of Apteryxf P. Z. S. 1882, p. 560. |
