368 Zoological Collections. Vertebrata. 



the name of Macrocercus ht/acinthinus, which the species now bears. In 

 his Conspectus Psittacorum, published in 1820, M. Kuhl quotes to the 

 Psittacus hyacinthinus of Latham no other synonyme but tliat of Shaw. 



This species is figured in M. Spix's work as the Anodorhynchus Maxi- 

 mUiani ; but, as far as I have been able to discover, entirely without descrip- 

 tion. A second bird, differing from it, not only in its comparatively 

 diminutive size, but also in having its cheeks bare, as in the typical maccaws, 

 although not quite to the same extent, is figured and described by the same 

 author as the Arara hyacinthinus. To the latter, M. Spix refers the 

 Guacamayo bleu (azul) of D'Azara, and states, that it has been improperly 

 confounded by Sonnini and Dr Latham, with the Anodorhynchus Maximiliani 

 Augusti. That the Arara hyacinthinus of Spix is not Dr Latham's Psittacus 

 hyacinthinus, is clear from the characters given of the latter, which is 

 described to have its chin and orbits only naked, in opposition to the other 

 maccaws, which are characterized as having naked cheeks. The identity of 

 Shaw's bird with that of Dr Latham, is proved by its being figured with the 

 same characters, and from the same museum, at a time when the specimen 

 was said to be " perhaps the only one known to exist at present in Europe." 

 A comparison of the characters given by D'Azara, with those of Dr Latham 

 and Dr Shaw, and with the figure of the latter, will at once remove any 

 doubt of the fact that the Guacamayo azul is the same bird ; and its size and 

 feathered cheeks immediately distinguish the latter from the Arara hyacin- 

 thinus of Spix, In fact, the Psittacus hyacinthinus of Dr Latham, the 

 Psittacus augustus of Shaw, the Guacamayo azul of D'Azara, the Macro- 

 cercus glaucus of Vieillot, the Macrocercus hyacinthinus of the same author, 

 and. the Anodorhynchus Maximiliani of Spix, are one and the same species. 

 The Arara hyacinthinus is totally distinct, but fornis, by its near approach 

 in colouring, and by the smaller extent of its naked cheeks, an evident link 



between the hyacinthine and the common maccaws Loudon's Mag. of Nat. 



Hist. May, 1831. 



Relative "Dimensions of the Bones of Animals. — A memoir was lately 

 communicated to the Linnsean Society, by Dr Walter Adam of Edinburgh, 

 with whose labours in the Museum of our University we have long been 

 charmed. Dr Adam seems to have discovered, under the auspices of his 

 gracious master, that the philosophy of zoology lies in comparative length and 

 breadth, and we can bear testimony to the unwearied and incessant attention 

 with which he has pursued this great principle to its development. Dr 

 Adam has at length obtained the splendid result, that " zoology is susceptible 

 of a classification established on the fixed basis of number, and that the 

 tissues by which the bones are moulded are also of determinable propor- 

 tions." 



It was lately stated, with the sagacity of precognition, by one who might 

 have been in the secret, that (to quote from memory) " we seem at this 

 moment to be on the verge of some great discovery, from which a grand 

 leading principle shall be deduced ; " and have we not here the fulfilment ? 



This our Edinburgh school of zoology can certainly now no longer be 

 held in derision. We labour hard and long ; we are blessed with a kind 

 teacher to direct us in the profitable paths of inquiry ; and we offer this 

 numerical law of osseous development as the gauge by which our scientific 

 worth may be meted. 



We give the following notice of Dr Adam's paper from the Annals of 

 Philosophy : — 



The objects of this elaborate paper are, to state minutely the dimensions 

 of the several bones of a large quadruped, the Camel, having been selected 

 to illustrate the general type of its class, on account of its size ; to trace the 

 mutual relations of these dimensions ; and thus to exemplify the general 

 osteological form in animals of similar configuration. The bones are 



