256 NATATORES. 
into five subdivisions or Subfamilies* (or, as others may 
chuse to call them, Genera), each displaying the same series 
of affinities within itself that regulates the more extensive 
divisions. The first of them is the subfamily Anserina, con- 
taining all the species generally known under the name of 
Geese (and answering to Temmincx’s section Les Oies), 
amongst which I also include the genus Cereopsis of La- 
tHAM. These, in their terrene habits, food, facility of walk- 
ing, length of neck and of leg (as compared with the other 
Anatid@), and bareness of the tibia above the tarsal joint (as 
exemplified in Cereopsis, &c.), shew a near approach to the 
Rasores and Grallatores, and serve as a connecting medium 
between them and the present order. To the Geese, the sub- 
family Cygnina (Swans) seems naturally to succeed, nearly 
allied to them in form and other characteristics, but more 
aquatic in their habits; with shorter legs, placed further 
backwards and more out of the centre of gravity, being thus 
endued with less activity upon land. In the form of the bill 
they shew their connexion with the two next subfamilies ; 
the first of which, Anatina, answers to 'T'EMMINCK’s first sec- 
tion of “ Canards proprement dits.” This appears to form 
the typical group of the present family, for in it we find the 
lamellated structure of the bill (belonging more or less to all 
the Anatide), developed in the highest degree ; and habits 
mediate between those that approach nearest to the Land 
Birds, and those conducting to the more typical Natatores+. 
* This arrangement of the Anatide differs slightly from that of Mr V1- 
cors, as developed in his “ Sketches in Ornithology,” published in the 
third volume of the Zoological Journal ; in which he has made Cereopsis 
(without, as I think, sufficient reason, or a due consideration of its struc- 
ture and affinities) the type of a subfamily. He has also placed the Mergi 
in the subfamily that contains the Ducks with a lobated hind toe, whereas 
the peculiar characters of the former seem to entitle them to a distinct 
station. 
+ I refer my readers to an able article, entitled, “On those Birds which 
exhibit the Typical Perfection of the Family of the Anatide,’” by Mr 
Swarnson (one of the most scientific ornithologists of the present day) 
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