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



animaux se ressemblent seront peiit-6tre la plus conforme a la 

 Nature*." 



On the appearance of Mr. Vigors^s View of Ornithology, I 

 naturally became anxious to know whether the affinities there 

 stated held good ; and on my arrival in Cuba resolved to exa- 

 mine anatomically those forms which, from being extra- Euro- 

 pean, had been little studied. — My observations on the subject I 

 propose to lay before the Society from time to time, as I may 

 have it in my power to make them ; and for the present, I shall 

 preface the description and anatomy of two birds having rather 

 peculiar forms with a few remarks on the affinities of Vertebrata, 

 and the comparative anatomy of Birds in general. 



Mr. Vigors in his paper has very fully discussed the external 

 structure of this charming class of animals ; and by following 

 carefully the variation of their external structure, he has arrived 

 at an arrangement which will be valid to demonstration as the 

 natural one, if by watching the variation of the internal struc- 

 ture we can obtain the same result : for be it always borne in 

 mind, that a natural arrangement will stand any test. It is not 

 that by tracing the variation of one organ we are led to a natu- 

 ral system, and by tracing that of another we are led to an arti- 

 ficial one ; since in fact every organ, although not equally con- 

 venient, when viewed with reference to the changes it may 

 undergo, leads to the same result, and the variation of all organs 

 is expressed by the natural systemt. If it be well said by 



* In these few sentences we find the first dawn of so many truths ; and as they do 

 not profess to give us more than the dawn, it is unnecessary in this place to state the 

 points in which I differ from Professor Fischer. I owe it to him, however, both as a 

 naturahst and a friend, that I should make the above quotations from a work, which I 

 only became acquainted with last year, when I purchased it at the sale of the library 

 of a lamented member of this Society, Mr. Thomas Smith, — a library well known to 

 naturalists as rich in almost every department of their science. 



+ See Hora Ejitom. p. 454. 



M. Cuvier, 



