| OCR Text |
Show 150 MR. F. E. BEDDARD ON THE SYRINX AND OTHER [Mar. 2, Sharpe for the opportunity of examining a syrinx of this bird. The accompanying drawing (fig. 3) illustrates the syrinx as seen from behind. The last ring of the trachea is complete in front and incomplete behind. The intrinsic muscles are attached to the middle of the sixth bronchial semiring, though, when viewed from behind, it would appear that the seventh bronchial semiring served for the attachment of these muscles; this appearance is caused by the incomplete terminal tracheal ring. The six anterior bronchial semirings are ossified and firmly united to each other and to the trachea ; both the anterior and posterior extremities of the successive semirings are united by a continuous bar of cartilage. The remaining bronchial semirings differ to a very Fig. 3. Syrinx of Batrachostomus. marked degree from the anterior ones ; they are slender and unossified, and separated by widish membranous intervals; there are about ten of these rings in either bronchus. The membrana tympaniformis, which unites together the opposite sides of each bronchus, forming its inner wall, is of equal diameter both in the posterior and anterior regions of the bronchus; there is a marked constriction, however, at the point which divides the anterior from the posterior region of the bronchus. Podargus cuvieri.-The syrinx of this Goatsucker appears to be formed upon the same type as that of Batrachostomus, and to show the same characters even to a greater degree. I have not been able to examine the organ itself; the following remarks are based upon a sketch made by the late Prof. Garrod1. 1 There is a brief description, unaccompanied by any figure, in Stannius' 'Lehrbuch der Vergleicbenden Anatomie,' Bd. ii. p. 321. |
