100 SCOPOLI'S ANNUS PRIMUS, 



remiges obscuriores quam pluma dorsales ; rectrices 

 remigibus concolores ; caudd emarginatd nee ford- 

 paid *," agrees very well with the bird in question ; 

 but when he comes to advance that it is " statura 

 hirundinis urbictf*," and that " definitio hirundinis 

 riparia Linntei huic quoque convenit 3 " he in some 

 measure invalidates all he has said ; at least he 

 shows at once that he compares them to these spe- 

 cies merely from memory ; for I have compared the 

 birds themselves, and find they differ widely in 

 every circumstance of shape, size, and colour. 

 However, as you will have a specimen, I shall be 

 glad to hear what your judgment is in the matter. 



Whether my brother is forestalled in his non- 

 descript or not, he will have the credit of first dis- 

 covering that they spend their winters under the 

 warm and sheltery shores of Gibraltar and Barbary. 



Scopoli's characters of his ordines and genera 

 are clear, just, and expressive, and much in the 

 spirit of Linnaeus. These few remarks are the result 

 of my first perusal of Scopoli's Annus Primus. 



The bane of our science is the comparing one 

 animal to the other by memory. For want of 

 caution in this particular, Scopoli falls into errors. 

 He is not so full with regard to the manners of his 

 indigenous birds as might be wished, as you justly 

 observe : his Latin is easy, elegant, and expressive, 

 and very superior to Kramer's 4 . 



1 " Mouse -coloured above, whitish beneath: the wings 

 having a white oval spot on the inside ; the feet naked and 

 black ; the beak black ; the pinions darker than the dorsal 

 plumage; the wings and pinions of the same colour; the tail 

 clear and not indented." 



2 The size of the house-martin. 



3 The definition agrees with that of Linnaeus' hirundo ri- 

 paria. 



4 See his Elenchus Fegetalilium et Animalium per Austrian 

 inferiorem, 8$c. 



