NEW SPECIES OF BUCEROS. 179 



Let me now attempt a more particular description ; beginning with 

 the specific dimensions, which are as follows : 



Feet. Inch. 



Wing to wing, 4 5 



Beak to tail, 3 6 



Tail, 1 5 



Bill, lengtli of, a 8 



Ditto, deptii or lieiglit of, ^ . . . . 3^ 



Legs 10 



Whereof, thighs to the knee, 5 



Tarsi, to ball of foot, 2 L 



Central toe and claw, 2^ 



The skinned carcase measures, from first to last joint of neck, eight 

 inches: from last joint of neck to end of rump, nine inches. 



The bill, which is large even for this genus, is nearly straight from 

 the gape to the tip, but still having, upon the whole, a slight incurvation, 

 which is most sensible along the ridge of the upper mandible, and es- 

 pecially towards the base of it where the arch is conspicuous, but without 

 any abruptness. The substance of the bill is perfectly hard and appa- 

 rently solid, not " cellular," or " hollow,"* unless in a manner traceable 

 only by dissectionj which I do not pretend to affirm or deny. The lateral 

 compression is great, so great as to render the edges above and below 

 somewhat sharp, to destroy almost the convexity of the sides, and to leave 

 hardly any breadth to the bill, except at the base, where it is a little 

 thickened, but still much less broad than high. The upper mandible is 

 strengthened by six large prominent ribs, running obliquely down nearly 



the 



* The words thus indicated as quotations, refer to the generic character. 



