18 Mr. W. S. Macleay on the Comparative Anatomy 



The following table relates to the variation in number of the 

 dorsal vertebrae, or those to which the ribs are attached. 



Here the variation is least in the Raptores, and greatest in the 

 Rasores and Natatores ; where again, by the bye, it is worth 

 noticing, that the Swan and Cassowary agree in possessing the 

 maximum number of ribs which the whole class of birds pre- 

 sents. 



We now come to a table of the variation in number of the 

 sacral vertebrae, founded on the same data ; which table, how- 

 ever, is less perhaps to be depended upon than the others, in 



p. 154, in speaking of the genera Diomedea and Phaeton, he observes, that they appear 

 " non inter se modo cognati ob longissimas alas, altissimum volatum et vivendi ra- 

 tionem, sed et Pelecano Aquilo conjuncti eandem ob causam, unde in eadem tabulae 

 linei juxta-positi et cum Falcone Halitzto simili modo in pisces quibus victitat ex alto 

 irruente conjuncti." I was much pleased, when oflFthe coast of Martinique, to behold 

 the Tachypetes floating over the Diamond Rock just hke an eagle. The sailors assured 

 me, that he often seizes his prey with his talons ; and on referring to the Histoire 

 I^aturelle et Morale des lies Antilles de VAmerique, published in l658, where there is 

 a very detailed account of the Fregates, I find the following passage : — " lis se placent 

 si bien du coste ou les poissons volans doivent faire leur saiUi6 que dez qu'ils sortent 

 de I'eau ils les resolvent en leur bee oU en leurs serres." p. 148. 



consequence 



