Magazine of Natural History

(discoidea Fab., 'Syst. Elect.' 2, 158, 116 Cetonia velutina Oliv., tab. 14, fig. 121

Aammea Vigors, 'Zool. Jour., vol. 2, p. 237, tab. 9. Sp. 119. ciliata. Most likely a Rutela; if so, its country will be South America.

In concluding these remarks on the species of Lamellicorns mentioned by Olivier, two observations will occur to most entomologists. The first is Olivier's want of a better acquaintance with the Fabrician species; this is remarkable. It certainly should not have occurred respecting the species described from our English cabinets, as Fabricius and Olivier described from the self-same specimens; every species was labelled by Fabricius, and there ought not, therefore, to have occurred so many glaring instances of decided neglect. The second great error of Olivier was an indifference about stating the countries from which the insects were received. This blame attaches equally to Linnæus, Fabricius, and other writers of the same period, and was the fault of the age in which they lived: geographical distribution is of mere modern growth, it is however of very great importance, and will eventually be found the best clue to conduct us out of the labyrinths of doubt and error, and without it we never can satisfactorily arrange the families, genera, or even the species of Insecta.

Olivier's work, as a whole, is one of the best which has appeared in France or Europe; although many of the figures are bad, many again are tolerably faithful portraits of the species. A wretchedly miserable work, with Olivier's figures was published at Nuremberg about 1800, under the title of 'Abbeldungen zuk. Illigeri, Uebersetzung, von Olivier's Entomologie.' The plates are so bad that it is rarely admitted by entomologists into their libraries. Faulty indeed as the above works may be, they are yet better than none. It is remarkable, that with the exception of Drury's 'Illustrations of Exotic Entomology,' the English authors have scarcely ever published a general work of any magnitude, with plates. As far as our British Fauna goes however, we greatly surpass the continental writers, as no where in Europe will be found more valuable Faunas than those of Messrs. Stephens and Curtis. A publication on the same scale as that of Olivier's would do much to advance the science of Entomology, and is at the present moment a great desideratum. There are in England several magnificent collections, able artists, and unrivalled comparative anatomists, but where is patronage to stimulate to exertion? How little is science encouraged, -how weakly is it supported!

ART. VII.—On the structural differences observable in the Crania of the four British Species of the Genus Cygnus. By W. G. PELERIN, Esq.

IT may be considered by many that structural variation in the crania of birds is of little importance; but I am inclined to think, from an attentive study of the comparative anatomy of the class for some years, that it may frequently tend, if not absolutely to decide species, at least materially to strengthen the characters. Many species that were long considered different, as the purre, dunlin, &c., had the crania been minutely examined, would have proved identical, and vice versâ, as in the present instances, where the birds are so nearly allied in point of colour &c. as to have been for years confounded, it appears to me worthy of attentive consideration.

As some doubts have been lately promulgated on the continent with regard to the swan characterised by Mr. Yarrell being specifically different from Cygnus olor, a description and comparison of the cranium of each may be interesting to naturalists, and tend to prove satisfactorily that they are distinct.

The measurement of an adult cranium of each bird is as follows.

Length from the tip of the bill to the base of the occipital

bone :

Cyg. immutabilis, 6 in.

Cyg. olor, 63 in.

Height from the bottom of the lower mandible when closed to the top of the protuberance at the base of the bill:

Cyg. immutabilis, 1 in. Cyg. olor, 2 in.

Height from the base of the under jaw to the vertex of the head, just behind the orbit of the eye:

In Cyg. immutabilis the bill is rather more flattened, particularly in the middle between the dertrum and the nostrils; the protuberance at the base of the upper mandible is less developed, and the top of the skull, instead of being nearly on a level from thence to the summit of the parietal bones, as in Cyg. olor, rises gradually to that point, and does not indicate any sign of the small foramen observable at that part in the latter species: but the greatest difference is perceptible on

comparing the occipital bones; the upper portion of this bone in Cyg. immutabilis (A) protrudes considerably more, and there are two oval foramina (B), one on each side just above the foramen magnum, which are not present in any specimens of Cyg. olor that I have examined; the portion forming the boundary of the external orifice of the ear (c) is much more prominent, and the condyle forms a more acute angle with the basilar portion of the occipital bone.

[merged small][graphic][ocr errors][subsumed][ocr errors][merged small]

A, upper portion of occipital bone. B, oval foramina. C, external orifice of ear. One of the chief distinctions of Cyg. olor appears to be the small foramen on the top of the cranium, which I have invariably found in this, but never in a single instance in the three other species: the two foramina in the occipital bone do not appear so constant, as, although I have always detected them in Cyg. Bewickii and never in Cyg. olor, they are occasionally observable in Cyg. ferus, but wanting in the greater number, and even in some, though perceptible, nearly obliterated.

The small size of the head of Cyg. Bewickii, being usually about one third less than that of Cyg. ferus, and the comparative shortness and breadth of the bill, render it unnecessary to describe it more minutely, as it would be at once detected by any observer at all conversant with the subject.

The specimen of Cyg. immutabilis from which the accompanying drawing and description are taken, was procured in the London market, and has been some years in my collection; and from a frequent comparison with many crania of Cyg. olor, from which it uniformly differed in the above particulars, I considered it as the head of a nearly-allied but dis

tinct species, although as I never subsequently met with either the bird or cranium, I could not identify it with any recognised or previously described, till Mr. Yarrell having mentioned to me that he had determined a new swan, confounded with, but in reality perfectly separable from Cygnus olor, I had no doubt that mine was the same species, and on showing it to him, after a careful investigation, he had no hesitation in confirming my views with regard to their identity. Since writing the above I have dissected the lately characterised goose, which affords additional proof of the utility of the study of the cranium, and also furnishes a corroboration that those authors who have not separated the geese from the bernacles are correct; this species forming a beautiful connecting link between the two: the plumage, colour of the beak, and legs, assimilate to the true geese, but the greater portion of its anatomy is that of the bernacles, particularly the head, as, were it not that it is one third larger, it might be taken, without attentive consideration, for that of Anser Bernicla, which it exactly resembles in the form of the bill, the height of the skull, and, wherein it particularly differs from all the other true geese, the large size of the super-orbital glands, and corresponding enlargement of the processes of the lachrymal bones and the depressions over the eyes for their attachment and insertion, although not near so much developed as in Anser brenta, in which these glands not only meet, but lap considerably over each other, and occupy a depression formed between the orbits for their reception. 65, Great Russel St.,

Bloomsbury Square.

[The new goose referred to above was described by Mr. Bartlett at the meeting of the Zoological Society, January 8th, 1839, under the name of Anser phonicopus, or pink-footed goose. It bears a close resemblance to the bean goose Anser segetum, for which it is probable that it has often been mistaken; but it may readily be distinguished from that species by the legs and feet, which, in a living or recently-killed specimen, are of a reddish flesh colour or pink, while the legs and feet of the bean goose are of a yellowish orange; the bird is smaller, the bill shorter, and the plumage more inclined to grey than in the bean goose. Mr. Bartlett stated that he had examined twenty specimens of the new species, in all of which the above distinguishing characters were present.-Ed.]

ART. VIII.-On the Artificial Arrangement of some of the more extensive Natural Orders of British Plants. By FREDERICK JOHN BIRD, Esq.

(Continued from Vol. 2, n. s., page 609.)

LEGUMINOSÆ.

(FABACEÆ, Lindl.)

In the analysis of the genera of this order made by Dr. Lindley, the distinctions upon which the principal divisions (Lotea and Viciea) are founded consist in the cotyledons rising above, or remaining beneath the ground during germination. To determine, however, which of these two conditions obtains, is frequently rendered very difficult from the rarity of specimens, or from their not being met with during the earlier stages of development; I have therefore been induced to construct the following table, without reference to the abovementioned divisional characters adopted by Dr. Lindley.

The British genera of Leguminose are contained within he Linnæan division Diadelphia Decandria.