ORN ITHOL G Y 21 and almost immediately afterwards began to contribute to the younger Naumann s excellent Naturyeschichte der Voyel DeutsddandSy already noticed above (page 9). Besides a concise general treatise on the Organization of Birds to be found in the Introduction to this work (i. pp. 23-52), a brief description from Nitzsch s pen of the peculiarities of the internal structure of nearly every genus is incorporated with the author s prefatory remarks, as each passed under consideration, and these descriptions being almost without exception so drawn up as to be com parative are accordingly of great utility to the student of classification, though they have been so greatly neglected. Upon these descriptions he was still engaged till death, in 1837, put an end to his labours, when his place as Naumann s assistant for the remainder of the work was taken by Rudolph "Wagner ; but, from time to time, a few more, which he had already completed, made their posthumous appearance in it, and, even in recent years, some selections from his unpublished papers have through the care of Giebel been presented to the public. Through out the whole of this series the same marvellous industry and scrupulous accuracy are manifested, and attentive study of it will shew how many times Nitzscli anticipated the conclusions at whi-ch it has taken some modern taxonomers fifty years to arrive. Yet over and over again his de termination of the affinities of several groups even of European Birds was disregarded ; and his labours, being contained in a bulky and costly work, were hardly known at all outside of his own country, and within it by no means appreciated so much as they deserved l for even Naumann himself, who gave them publication, and was doubtless in some degree influenced by them, utterly failed to perceive the importance of the characters offered by the song-muscles of certain groups, though their peculiarities were all duly described and recorded by his coadjutor, as some indeed had been long before by Cuvier in his famous dissertation 2 on the organs of voice in Birds (Lecuns danatomie comparce, iv. pp. 450-491). Xitzsch s name was subsequently dismissed by Cuvier without a word of praise, and in terms which would have been applicable to many another and inferior author, while Temminck, terming Naumann s work an " ouvraye de luxe," it being in truth one of the cheapest for its contents ever published, effectually shut it out from the realms of science. In Britain it seems to have been positively unknown until quoted some years after its completion by a catalogue-compiler on account of some peculiarities of nomenclature which it presented. 3 Now we must return to France, where, in 1827, L HERMINIEK, a crcole of Guadaloupe and a pupil of De Blainville s, contributed to the Actes of the Linmean Society of Paris for that year (vi. pp. 3-93) the " Recherches sur 1 appareil sternal des Oiseaux, " which the precept and example of his master had prompted him to undertake, and Cuvier had found for him the means of executing. A second and considerably enlarged edition of this very remarkable treatise was published as a separate work in the following year. Y"e have already seen that De Blainville, though fully persuaded of the great value of sternal features as a method of classification, had been compelled to fall back upon the old pedal characters so often employed before ; but now the scholar had learnt to excel his teacher, and not only to form an at least provi- 1 Their value was, however, understood by Gloger, who in 1834, as will presently be seen, expressed his regret at not being able to use them. 2 Cuvier s first observations on the subject seem to have appeared in the Magazin Encydopedique for 1795 (ii. pp. 330, 358). 3 However, to this catalogue- compiler the present writer s grati tude is due, for thereby he became acquainted -vith the work and its merits. sional arrangement of the various members of the Clats, based on sternal characters, but to describe these characters at some length, and so give a reason for the faith that was in him. There is no evidence, so far as we can see, of his having been aware of Merrem s views ; but like that anatomist he without hesitation divided the Class into two great "coupes" to which he gave, however, no other names than "Oiseaux Normaux" and "Oiseaux Anomaux,"- exactly corresponding with his predecessor s Carinatae and Ratitge, and, moreover, he had a great advantage in founding these groups, since he had discovered, apparently from his own investigations, that the mode of ossification in each was distinct ; for hitherto the statement of there being five centres of ossification in every Bird s sternum seems to have been accepted as a general truth, without contradiction, whereas in the Ostrich and the Rhea, at any rate, L Herminier found that there were but two such primitive points, 4 and from analogy he judged that the same would be the case with the Cassowary and the Emeu, which, with the two forms mentioned above, made up the whole of the " Oiseaux . Anomatix " whose existence was then generally acknowledged. 5 These are the forms which composed the Family previously termed Cursores by De Blainville ; but L Herminier was able to distinguish no fewer than thirty-four Families of " Oiseaux Normaux," and the judgment with which their separation and defini tion were effected must be deemed on the whole to be most creditable to him. It is to be remarked, however, that the wealth of the Paris Museum, which he enjoyed to the full, placed him in a situation incomparably more favour able for arriving at results than that which was occupied by Merrem, to whom many of the most remarkable forms were wholly unknown, while L Herminier had at his dis posal examples of nearly every type then known to exist. But the latter used this privilege wisely and well not, after the manner of De Blainville and others subsequent to him, relying solely or even chiefly on the character afforded by the posterior portion of the sternum, but taking also into consideration those of the anterior, as well as of the in some cases still more important characters presented by the pre-sternal bones, such as the furcula, coracoids, and scapulas. L Herminier thus separated the Families of " Normal Birds": 9. 10. 11. 14. 15. Accipitres " - Accipitrcs, 18, Linn. Serpentaives " Gypogera- 19. nus, llliger. 20 Chouettes" Strix, Linn. 21 "Touracos" Opaetus,~Yi&llot Perro([iiets " - Psittacus, Linn. Colibris " Trochihis, Linn. 23. Martinets " Cypselus, Illi- 24, ger. Engoule vents" Caprimul- gus, Linn. Coucous " Cucuhis, Linn. Couroucous" Trogon,IAim. 26, Kolliers " Galgulus, Bris- son. 27 Guepiers "Mcrops, Linn. 28. Martins-FGcheurs" Akcdo, 29, Linn. 30. Calaos "- -Buceros, Linn. j 31.
- Toucans " Ranrphantos, 32.
Linn.
- Pies" Pirns, Linn. | 33.
Epopsides" - Epopsidex, 34. Vieillot. " Passereaux " - Passcrcs, Linn. " Pigeons " Columba, Linn. Gallinaces " Gallinacea. " Tinamous " - Tinamus, Latham. " Foulquea on Ponies d ean" Fulicci, Linn. " Grues " Grits, Pallas. " Herodions " Herodii, Illi- ger. Xo name given, but said to include " les ibis et les spattiles." "Gralles ou Echassiera "- G rail IF. " Mouettes " Lams, Linn. " Petrels" ProcfUaria,Jim. "Pelicans" Pclecanus,~Lm. " Canards " Anas, Linn. " Grebes" 1 odiccps, Lat]iam, " Plongeons" - Culymbus, Latham. " Pingoitins" Alca, Latham. " Manchots" Aptenodytcs, Forster. 4 This fact in the Ostrich appears to have been known already to Geoffrey St-Hilaire from his own observation in Egypt, but does not seem to have been published by him. 5 Considerable doubts were at that time, as said elsewhere (Kiwi, vol. xiv. p. 104), entertained in Paris as to the existence of the Apteryx,
