290 



NATURE 



\Feb. 12, 1874 



Zealand near lat. 40°, and the isothermal of 50° near 

 Dunedin ; now the mean temperature of January at 

 Southland situated at the extreme south of New Zealand 

 is 57°'6, and at Dunedin (550 ft. high) 57''5; in other words, 

 the isothermal of 60° and not that of 50° ought to pass near 

 Dunedin, Dr. Hector's meteorological reports during 

 the past seven years place this beyond all doubt, and it is 

 unfortunate that the summer climate of this important 

 colony of Great Britain should have been so misrepre- 

 sented as to appear to be colder than that of Iceland, and 

 altogether insufficient for the ripening of wheat, barley, 

 and other cereals. The July isothermal of 90° is repre- 

 sented as having its eastern extension at the entrance to 

 the Persian Gulf in 57° E. long. Now Murray Thomson's 

 and Blandford's meteorological reports show that the 

 isothermal of 90" extends eastward to about 77" E. long , 

 so as to embrace the Punjaub and the upper tributaries of 

 the Ganges to the west, being thus 20" farther east than 

 is represented on the chart. ^ 



The truth is, that, excepting for the months of January 

 and July, there have been no isothermal charts of the 

 months for the whole globe yet published which do not 

 contain many gross errors similar to those we have 

 pointed out. The lime is surely not far off when a com- 

 mittee of the British Association, or some competent 

 authority, will take up this subject, and give us a set of 

 new isothermal Hnes laid down from all data which the 

 great expansion meteorology has received of late years 

 has made available. 



The two charts showing the isotherraals of the sea for 

 the extreme months, February and August, and the chart 

 showing the surface currents of the ocean, are very valu- 

 able. A supplementary chart showing the currents south 

 and east of Asia during the monsoon season is also given. 

 We should suggest for the second edition of the Charts, 

 that charts of the surface currents for both February and 

 August should be given for the whole globe, it being only 

 thus that these important aids to navigation can be ade- 

 quately presented. 



It was pointed out in NATURE some years ago that the 

 prevailing winds and surface currents of the Atlantic are 

 all but absolutely coincident. These Charts enable us 

 now to extend the remark to the prevailing winds and 

 surface currents over all the oceans. Keeping out of view 

 the deep-water currents of the sea to which Carpenter has 

 given so much attention, it is now placed beyond all 

 doubt that it is to the winds we must look as the prime 

 movers of oceanic currents. 



MR. GARROD'S NEW CLASSIFICATION OF 

 BIRDS 



AT the scientific meeting of the Zoological Society, 

 on Tuesday, February 3, Mr. A. H. Garrod intro- 

 duced a new Classification of Birds, based mainly on the 

 disposition of their muscles and other soft parts. The 

 following is an abstract of his paper : — 



The osteology of birds, judging from the unsatis- 

 factory state of their classification m the present day, 

 is not sufficient in itself as a basis for distinguishing 

 the mutual relations of the different families and 

 genera ; and as the peculiarities in the soft parts 

 are very constant, they deserve more considera- 

 tion than they have hitherto receixed. The re- 

 searches of Hunter, Nitzsch, MacgiUivray, Owen, 

 and others, have brought to light many facts in visceral 

 anatomy and pterylosis, all of wftich are of great value in 

 classification. Sundevall is the only ornithologist v/ho 

 seems to have made any generalisations respecting myo- 

 logy, and these have an important bearing on the subject. 



My method of work, Mr. Garrod went on to say, 

 has been the following : — After having carefully 

 dissected a few birds that are known to be but 

 distantly related, a comparison of the notes on 



the individuals examined showed that there were im- 

 portant myological differences between them. Further 

 dissection of species related more or less intimately, indi- 

 cated broadlythe relative value of the peculiarities that weru 

 found, when taken in connection with the most approved 

 classification of the present day ; and as observations 

 became more numerous the relative itiiportancc of the 

 facts observed was more easy to estimate. The muscles 

 which have, on account of their marked tendency to vary 

 in the class Aves, attracted the most of my attention, are 

 all situated in the thigh, and they are five in number : 

 (l) \.\it fi-moro- caudal, which runs from the linea aspera 

 of the lemur, near its head, to the sides of the tail ver- 

 tebrae ; (2) the acctssoiy fcmoro-caiidal, which runs 

 parallel to the last, and behind it, from below the femur- 

 head to the ischium ; (3) the scmitiiidinosus, which crosses 

 the first-named muscle superficially, and arises from the 

 lower part of the ischium, to be inserted into the inner 

 side of the tibia-head ; (4) the accessory scinitendinosiis, 

 which arises from the distal end of the linea aspera, and 

 joins the fibres of its larger namesake obliquely just 

 before their insertion ; (5) the ambictis, that peculiar 

 slender muscle which arises from just above the ace- 

 tabulum, and after running obliquely through the liga- 

 mcntum patellar, joins the tendon of the flexor perforatus 

 digitorum. My observations on these fi\e muscles have 

 been made on more than 500 species of birds, including 

 more than 600 specimens, and the results are recorded in 

 a tabular form, in a paper now in course of publication in 

 this Society's Proceedings. For the present, no more 

 attention need be paid to these muscles themselves, but 

 only their presence or absence considered ; therefore, to 

 simplify description, a myological formula will be em- 

 ployed which indicates all the facts required in a very 

 precise manner. Calling the first four of the above-men- 

 tioned muscles, A B X and Y, respectively, and omitting 

 from the formula thus based, the symbol or symbols 

 which represent any that are deficient, it is clear that a 

 bird, like the common fowl for exatnple, which possesses 

 them all, would be represented by ABXY ; and the eagle, 

 in which the femoro-caudal is alone present, by A ; whilst 

 the sparrow, which only wants the accessory femoro- 

 caudal, must have the formula A X Y ; and the duck, 

 which only lacks the accessory semitendinosus, is repre- 

 sented by A B X. By this means it is possible to make 

 impoitant statements respecting the myology of any bird 

 in a very concise lorm, which gives great facility towards 

 the comparison of different species. It must here be 

 mentioned that individuals of a species and species of a 

 genus do not vary among themselves in the muscles under 

 consideration. The following table gives the m)ological 

 formula of the different families of birds, as far as my 

 dissections enable me to go, the only iniportant types 

 omitted being Eurypyga, Psophia, Todus, and Bucco. 

 They are arranged in an order to be subsequently 

 explained, and the presence or absence of the ambiens- 

 muscle is indicated by -f or — after each formula: — 



Table I. 



CasuariidiE 



Struthionidcc E X Y + 



A B X Y — 

 BX Y — 



TinamidfE ABXY + 



Palamedeid.x- A B X V + 



Gallina: ( A B X Y + 



(excl. Turnix) * B X Y -l- 



KallidEe A B X Y + 



Otididre B X Y -h 



(Incl. Cariami and .Serpeiitariiis. 



Phteiiicoptendx B X Y + 



Musuphagidcv A B X Y + 



Centropina; A B X Y + 



Cuculina: A X Y -h 



Psittaci A X Y ± 



Anatidce A B X + 



I. 



PiciJa 



A X y— 



A X — 

 Ramphastida A XY- 

 Capitonidic A X Y — 

 UpupdaA X Y— ' 

 Bttcerotida A X Y — 

 Alccdinida: A X — 

 ) 



„ 1 A X F— 

 Passcrcs j . ,, 



Trogonidie AX — 



