C6 John Hogg, Esq , on the Classification of Birds. 



webbed, palmipedes, but chiefly present three forms oi palma- 

 ture ; first, where the fore-toes are alone connected by a 

 membrane : this is the common palmature ; secondly, the toti- 

 palmature, where the hind-toe is placed at the inner side of 

 the tarsus, and united with the fore-toes in one entire web ; 

 and, thirdly, where the fore-toes are edged with lateral and 

 extended membranes : this is called the fissopalmature. The 

 tarsi are more or less compressed, and the claws in some are 

 short and blunt, whilst in others they are flat and square, 

 or curved and sharp, resembling talons. 



Tribe I. Lamellirostres. Cuvier has thus very properly 

 named his fourth family of Palmipedes, which, with the ex- 

 clusion of the genera Mergus and Merganser (also Membra- 

 nipollices), I have assumed for vay first ivihe of the Natatores. 

 In truth, the lamellae or denticulations, present one of the 

 principal characters in defining the genera of the Anatidse. 

 I have divided it into two subtribes, Simplicipollices and 

 Membranipollices ; and I have separated the geese and swans 

 {Anseridoe) from the ducks, whilst the latter, with the re- 

 mainder of the Lamellirostral tribe, being the Pochards, Sco- 

 ters, Eiders, &c. I have divided into two more families, 

 by restricting those genera, chiefly fluviatile and lacustrine, 

 which have the thumb or hind-toe simple, or without a mem- 

 brane, to the family Anatidw ; and by placing the rest pos- 

 sessing the hind-toe edged rvith a membrane, in the family 

 Fuligulidw, being the marine or oceanic kinds. 



Family 1. Anseridce. I have thought myself warranted in 

 classing the geese and swans apart from the large family of 

 Anatidce of the English zoologists ; because, in addition to their 

 «hape, and some other characters, their tracheae are mostly 

 not furnished with any enlargement or labyrinth, or rarely 

 with a single one, as in the Egyptian goose ; while the re- 

 maining male Anatidw, except the common scoter, possess 

 #osseous, or cartilaginous, labyrinths, at the extremities of 

 their tracheae. . Also, I consider that the domestic swan 

 ©tight to constitute a separate genus, which might be called 

 0/or,"and the species Mutus ; but the Hooper, with the other 

 species, should be stationed in the restricted genus Cygnus, 

 for they diifer, besides some minor points, in these structural 



