WHERE WE STAND IN COMPARATIVE OSTEOLOGY. 93 



discredit of the science in which they occur. In reality they 

 amount to errors, and errors in science are more to be deplored 

 than those of any other character. Take, for example, the 

 osteology of the domestic sheep {Ovis aries); if, when its 

 skeleton was first described and the various bones of its skele- 

 ton figured, science should have remained satisfied with it as 

 standing for the osteology of that particular family. The do- 

 mestic sheep is said to have 7 cervical, 13 dorsal, 7 lumbar, 

 4 sacral and a variable number of caudal vertebræ. Subse- 

 quently, another Avriter endeavors to publish a paper on the 

 osteology of some other species of sheep, but he finds all ave- 

 nues of publication closed to him, and he is told that his work 

 is unnecessary, as the species, the osteology of which he has 

 described, is so closely related to Ovis aries, that it would be 

 an unjustifiable expense to print another account, especially as 

 the skeleton of the common domestic sheep may be found in 

 any museum of comparative osteology. When writers of general 

 text-books, devoted to comparative osteology, keep passing the 

 statement along that, in the sheep family, the number of verte- 

 bræ in the spinal column are so and so many, as given above. 

 Now, as a matter of fact, there are at least three other species 

 of sheep that possess, in each case, but six lumbar vertebræ. 

 This constitutes but a single error, and there is no telling how 

 many others may be perpetuated from the operation of the 

 same principle. 



For over thirty years I have been in touch with compara- 

 tive anatomists, and I have described and figured the skeletons 

 of a very large number of vertebrates, including fishes, reptiles, 

 birds and mammals, and am at work upon several extensive 

 groups at the present writing, and have still others in press. 

 My experience then, in such matters, is large, and, in not a few 

 instances, I have been confronted with the dangers above 

 set forth. 



