52 



DICTIONAR V OF BIRDS 



employed before ; but now the scholar had learnt to excel his teacher, and 

 not only to form an at least provisional arrangement of the various 

 members of the Class, based on sternal characters, but to describe these 

 characters at some length, and so give a reason for the faith that was in 

 him. There is no evidence, so far as we can see, of his having been aware 

 of Merrem's views ; but like that anatomist he without hesitation divided 

 the Class into two great " coupes" to which he gave, however, no other 

 names than " Oiseaux Normaux " and " Oiseaux Anomaux" — exactly 

 corresponding with his predecessor's Carinatse, and Batitx — and, moreover, 

 he had a great advantage in founding these groups, since he had discovered, 

 apparently from his own investigations, that the mode of ossification'in each 

 was distinct ; for hitherto the statement of there being five centres of 

 ossification in every Bird's sternum seems to have been accepted as a 

 general truth, without contradiction, whereas in the Ostrich and the Rhea, 

 at any rate, L'Herminier found that there were but two such primitive 

 points,^ and from analogy he judged that the same would be the case with 

 the Cassowary and the Emeu, which, with the two forms mentioned 

 above, made up the whole of the " Oiseaux Anomaux" whose existence was 

 then generally acknowledged.- These are the forms which composed the 

 Family previously termed Cursores by De Blainville ; but L'Herminier 

 was able to distinguish no fewer than thirty-four Families of " Oiseaux 

 Normaux," and the judgment with which their separation and definition 

 were effected must be deemed on the whole to be most creditable to him. 

 It is to be remarked, however, that the wealth of the Paris Museum, 

 which he enj oyed to the full, placed him in a situation incomparably more 

 favourable for arriving at results than that which was occupied by IMerrem, 

 to whom many of the most remarkable forms were inaccessible, while 

 L'Herminier had at his disposal examples of nearly every type then 

 discovered. But the latter used this privilege wisely and well — not, after 

 the manner of De Blainville and others subsequent to him, relying solely 

 or even chiefly on the character afforded by the posterior portion of the 

 sternum, but taking also into consideration those of the anterior, as well 

 as of the in some cases still more important characters presented by the 

 presternal bones, such as the furcula, coracoids and scapulae. L'Herminier 

 thus separated the families of " Normal Birds " : — 



1. " Accipitres " — Accipiires, Linn. 



2. " Serpentaires " — Gypogeranus, 



Uliger. 



3. " Chouettes " — Striz, Linn. 



4. "Touracos" — Opaetus, Vieillot. 



5. "Perroquets" — Psittacus, Linn. 



6. "Colibrls" — Trochilus, Linn. 



7. "Martinets" — Cypselus, Illiger. 



8. " Engoulevents " — Caprimulgus, 



Linn. 



9. "Concous" — Ouculus, Linn. 



10. "Couroucous" — Trogon, Llnu. 



IL "RoUiers" — Galgidus, Brisson. 



12. "Gugpiers" — Merops, Linn. 



13. " Martins-Pecheurs " — Alcedo, Linn. 



14. "Calaos" — Buceros, Linn. 



15. "Toucans" — Ramplmstos, Linn. 



16. "Pies" — Picus, Linn. 



17. "l^popsides" — Epopsides, Vieillot. 



18. "Passereaux" — Passeres, Linn. 



19. "Pigeons" — Columba, hmn. 



20. " Gallinacds "— Gallinacea. 



^ This fact in the Ostrich appears to have been known already to GeoSroy St.- 

 Hilaire from his own observation in Egypt, but does not seem to have been published 

 by him. 



^ Considerable doubts were at that time, as said elsewhere (Kiwi), entertained iu 

 Paris as to the existence of the Apteryx. 



