show, ramify in their substance, and they are in many cases covered with muscular fibres which confer on them a rhythmic movement, some recent observers (Mr. Drosier1 of Cambridge, for example) have endeavoured to prove that they are adjuncts of the lungs, and therefore assist in aërating the blood. This opinion was advocated by John Hunter as early as 1774,2 and is probably correct, since the temperature of birds is higher than that of any other class of animals, and because they are obliged occasionally to make great muscular exertions both in swimming and flying. Others have viewed the air-sacs in connexion with the hollow bones frequently, though not always, found in birds,3 and have come to look upon the heated air which they contain as being more or less essential to flight. That the air-cells have absolutely nothing to do with flight is proved by the fact that some excellent fliers (take the bats, e.g.) are destitute of them, while birds such as the ostrich and apteryx, which are incapable of flying, are proIvided with them. Analogous air-sacs, moreover, are met with in animals never intended to fly; and of these I may instance the great air-sac occupying the cervical and axillary regions of the orang-outang, the float or swimmingbladder in fishes, and the pouch communicating with the trachea of the emu.4

"On the Functions of the Air-cells and the Mechanism of Respiration in Birds," by W. H. Drosier, M.D., Caius College.-Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc., Feb. 12, 1866.

2"An Account of certain Receptacles of Air in Birds which communicate with the Lungs, and are lodged among the Fleshy Parts and in the Hollow Bones of these Animals."--Phil. Trans., Lond. 1774.

3 According to Dr. Crisp the swallow, martin, snipe, and many birds of passage have no air in their bones (Proc. Zool. Soc., Lond. part xxv. 1857, p. 13). The same author, in a second communication (pp. 215 and 216), adds that the glossy starling, spotted flycatcher, whin-chat, wood-wren, willow-wren, black-headed bunting, and canary, five of which are birds of passage, have likewise no air in their bones. The following is Dr. Crisp's summary :-Out of ninety-two birds examined he found "air in many of the bones, five (Falconida); air in the humeri and not in the inferior extremities, thirtynine; no air in the extremities and probably none in the other bones, fortyeight."

4 Nearly allied to this is the great gular pouch of the bustard. Specimens of the air-sac in the orang, emu, and bustard, and likewise of the air-sacs of

The same may be said of the hollow bones,-some really admirable fliers, as the swifts, martins, and snipes, having their bones filled with marrow, while those of the wingless running birds alluded to have air. Furthermore and finally, a living bird weighing 10 lbs. weighs the same when dead, plus a very few grains; and all know what effect a few grains of heated air would have in raising a weight of 10 lbs. from the ground.

How Balancing is effected in Flight, the Sound produced by the Wing, etc.-The manner in which insects, bats, and birds balance themselves in the air has hitherto, and with reason, been regarded a mystery, for it is difficult to understand how they maintain their equilibrium when the wings are beneath their bodies. Figs. 67 and 68, p. 141, throw considerable light on the subject in the case of the insect. In those figures the space (a, g) mapped out by the wing during its vibrations is entirely occupied by it; i.e. the wing (such is its speed) is in every portion of the space at nearly the same instant, the space representing what is practically a solid basis of support. As, moreover, the wing is jointed to the upper part of the body (thorax) by a universal joint, which admits of every variety of motion, the insect is always suspended (very much as a compass set upon gimbals is suspended); the wings, when on a level with the body, vibrating in such a manner as to occupy a circular area (vide rd bf of fig. 56, p. 120), in the centre of which the body (a e c) is placed. The wings, when vibrating above and beneath the body occupy a conical area; the apex of the cone being directed upwards when the wings are below the body, and downwards when they are above the body. Those points are well seen in the bird at figs. 82 and 83, p. 158. In fig. 82 the inverted cone formed by the wings when above the body is represented, and in fig. 83 that formed by the wings when below the body is given. In these figures it will be observed that the body, from the insertion of the roots of the wings into its upper portion, is always suspended, and this, of course, is equivalent to suspending the centre of gravity. In the bird and the swan and goose, as prepared by me, may be seen in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

bat, where the stroke is delivered more vertically than in the insect, the basis of support is increased by the tip of the wing folding inwards and backwards in a more or less horizontal direction at the end of the down stroke; and outwards and forwards at the end of the up stroke. This is accompanied by the rotation of the outer portion of the wing upon the wrist as a centre, the tip of the wing, because of the ever varying position of the wrist, describing an ellipse. In insects whose wings are broad and large (butterfly), and which are driven at a comparatively low speed, the balancing power is diminished. In insects whose wings, on the contrary, are long and narrow (blow-fly), and which are driven at a high speed, the balancing power is increased. It is the same with short and long winged birds, so that the function of balancing is in some measure due to the form of the wing, and the speed with which it is driven; the long wing and the wing vibrated with great energy increasing the capacity for balancing. When the body is light and the wings very ample (butterfly and heron), the reaction elicited by the ascent and descent of the wing displaces the body to a marked. extent. When, on the other hand, the wings are small and the body large, the reaction produced by the vibration of the wing is scarcely perceptible. Apart, however, from the shape and dimensions of the wing, and the rapidity with which it is urged, it must never be overlooked that all wings (as has been pointed out) are attached to the bodies. of the animals bearing them by some form of universal joint, and in such a manner that the bodies, whatever the position of the wings, are accurately balanced, and swim about in a more or less horizontal position, like a compass set upon gimbals. To such an extent is this true, that the position of the wing is a matter of indifference. Thus the pinion may be above, beneath, or on a level with the body; or it may be directed forwards, backwards, or at right angles to the body. In either case the body is balanced mechanically and without effort. To prove this point I made an artificial wing and body, and united the one to the other by a universal joint. I found, as I had anticipated, that in whatever position the wing was placed, whether above, beneath, or on

a level with the body, or on either side of it, the body almost instantly attained a position of rest. The body was, in fact, equally suspended and balanced from all points.

Rapidity of Wing Movements partly accounted for.-Much surprise has been expressed at the enormous rapidity with which some wings are made to vibrate. The wing of the insect is, as a rule, very long and narrow. As a consequence, a comparatively slow and very limited movement at the root

confers great range and immense speed at the tip; the speed of each portion of the wing increasing as the root of the wing is receded from. This is explained on a principle well understood in mechanics, viz. that when a rod hinged at one end is made to move in a circle, the tip or free end of the rod describes a much wider circle in a given time than a portion of the rod nearer the hinge. This principle is illustrated at

It

1 In this diagram I have purposely represented the right wing by a straight rigid rod. The natural wing, however, is curved, flexible, and elastic. likewise moves in curves, the curves being most marked towards the end of the up and down strokes, as shown at m n, o p. The curves, which are double figure-of-8 curves, are obliterated towards the middle of the strokes (a r). This remark holds true of all natural wings, and of all artificial wings properly constructed. The curves and the reversal thereof are necessary to give continuity of motion to the wing during its vibrations, and what is not less important, to enable the wing alternately to seize and dismiss the air.

fig. 56.

Thus if a b of fig. 56 be made to represent the rod hinged at x, it travels through the space dbf in the same time it travels through j k l; and through j k l in the same time it travels through g h i; and through ghi in the same time it travels through e a c, which is the area occupied by the thorax of the insect. If, however, the part of the rod b travels through the space d bf in the same time that the part a travels through the space e a c, it follows of necessity that the portion of the rod marked a moves very much slower than that marked b. The muscles of the insect are applied at the point a, as short levers (the point referred to corresponding to the thorax of the insect), so that a comparatively slow and limited movement at the root of the wing produces the marvellous speed observed at the tip; the tip and body of the wing being those portions which occasion the blur or impression produced on the eye by the rapidly oscillating pinion (figs. 64, 65, and 66, p. 139), But for this mode of augmenting the speed originally inaugurated by the muscular system, it is difficult to comprehend how the wings could be driven at the velocity attributed to them. The wing of the blow-fly is said to make 300 strokes per second, i.e. 18,000 per minute. Now it appears to me that muscles to contract at the rate of 18,000 times in the minute would be exhausted in a very few seconds, a state of matters which would render the continuous flight of insects impossible. (The heart contracts only between sixty and seventy times in a minute.) I am, therefore, disposed to believe that the number of contractions made by the thoracic muscles of insects has been greatly overstated; the high speed at which the wing is made to vibrate being due less to the separate and sudden contractions of the muscles at its root than to the fact that the speed of the different parts of the wing is increased in a direct ratio as the several parts are removed from the driving point, as already explained. Speed is certainly a matter of great importance in wing movements, as the elevating and propelling power of the pinion depends to a great extent upon the rapidity with which it is urged. Speed, however, may be produced in two ways either by a series of separate and opposite movements, such as is witnessed in the action of a piston, or by a series