| OCR Text |
Show 470 MR. W. A. FORBES ON LEPTOSOMA DISCOLOR. [June 15, cal in shape, largest apically, and[slightly tapering towards their bases ; they measure respectively 2\ and 2| inches. The liver has the left lobe much the smallest; there is a distinct gall-bladder. There is thus nothing striking or characteristic about the alimentary canal. In the possession of large cylindrical caeca, Leptosoma agrees with both Coraciidse (including Brachypteracias and Geobi-astes) and Cuculidaa, as also in most of the other points noted. In the Cuckoos, however, the gall-bladder is said to be absent as a U Myology ^c-The first pectoral is big ; the second extends Fig. 2. Wing-muscles of Leptosoma. Termination of the tensor patagii brevis (t.p.br.) iD Leptosoma. e.m.r., the fleshy belly of the superficial layer of the extensor metacarpi radialis longior muscle; t, the tubercle on the humerus, whence it arises; above it the humerus. P, the patagium, its dorsal layer having been removed to show the muscles, &c. at least halfway down the sternum ; the third is not represented. There is no biceps-slhp to the patagium, as is the case in all " Ano-malogonatse " except the Caprimulgidee. In none of these points does Leptosoma differ from the Coraciidse or Cuculidae. The expansor secundariorum is present and well developed ; its proximal end is T-shaped (" ciconiiform," Garrod), the sternal part of the tendon being attached to that bone at the junction of the costal process with the body near the coracoid groove ; it therefore resembles 1 Owen, Anat. Vert. ii. p. 177. Gadow also states its absence in Cuculus. Hunter, on the other hand, found it, though "very small," in C. canorus (I. s. c. p. 285). According to the plates in Grandidier's work, Coua gigas has a gallbladder (pl. 63); so has Geobiastes squamigera (pl. 99. fig. 2). |
