■' *!Dr Adam on the Osteology of the Hippopotamus. 361 



UtrmUaria intermedia. — Yerj common in the lakes ai>d bogs throughout the 

 route. , 



Vtricularia minor. — Much less common tl^'^ last species, but existing oc- 

 casionally in the lakes, l^ound in flower only once in a small pool near 

 the base of Speckanconich, Assynt, by Mr PamelL 



Vicia sylvatica — This was picked by Mr Campbell and Mr Stables in Free 

 Vater, north of Ross-shire, the only station in which it was observed. 



Among the rare plants of the north and west of Sutherlandshire, I ought not 

 to omit the mention of common winter Wheat. The first experiment in 

 the cultivation of this grain has been tried this year at Balnakiel, the 

 farm of the late Mr Dunlop, in the parish of Durness, upon the shore, 

 ten miles east of Cape Wrath. The field was sown during last winter, 

 is an excellent crop, and will,.! suppose,, be reaped about the middle of 

 September. 



A Vi^'-im ir/< *tn f<7>^'j oril to ni'/Kc.t'qSw mm moil <m 

 NOTICE ON the" OSTEOLOGY OF TH^ HIPPOPOTAMUS. By 



Walter Adam, M.D. Fellow of the Royal College of 

 Physicians of Edinburgh, M. W. S. S^c. Communicated by 

 the Author. 



In species valuable to mankind, or in species that have be- 

 come extinct, or are otherwise interesting, it may be desirable to 

 know the relative size of each bone. But, in most animals, no 

 very tedious investigation is required to ascertain, osteologically, 

 the distinguishing form ; in other words, those osteological di- 

 mensions, the constancy of which determines the existence of 

 separate species. 



The precision of which the arrangement of animals is suscep- 

 tible, according to symmetrical measurement of such dimensions, 

 may be exemplified in the hippopotamus, the rather that few 

 animals are of a form so remote from elegance. 



In the hippopotamus the number of dorsal vertebrae, as of 

 ribs, is fifteen. Of these fifteen the tenth is narrower over the 

 transverse processes than any other vertebrae in the trunk of the 

 animal. 



Four other chracteristic dimensions of the hippopotamus are 

 identical with this smallest transverse breadth of the vertebral 

 column. These are, — 



1. The mesial height of the cranium from the surface of the palate. 



2. and 3. The inial breadth of the cranium, both at the inio<coronal pro- 

 minence, and at the occipital condyles. 



4. The breadth of the knee-joint. 



