xlvi 
Vol. X.] 
Mr. Wiglesworth was experimentiug with some other instru- 
ments likely to be of use in measuring animals. 
Mr. Hartert also read some notes by Mr. L. Wiglesworth 
(who was not able to be present) about the question “ How 
a Bird-skin should be measured ? Mr. Wiglesworth’s 
remarks were as follows : — 
“ The identification or distinction of species and sub-species 
of birds is often rendered a matter of doubt and uncertainty 
owfing to our ignorance of the manner in which our brother 
ornithologists apply the tape and rule. I myself, when 
actively engaged at Dresden, felt this want of knowledge 
hundreds of times. I have measured many specimens, which 
had previously been measured by careful ornithologists, 
and obtained different results ; and I have been led into 
error on some occasions and have observed that men very 
prominent in our science have sometimes also made mistakes 
for similar reasons. To give an instance ; authors some- 
times compare Scldegel’s wing-measurements with their own. 
It is not generally known that Schlegel employed the old 
French inch (= about 1T8 English inch), and that he 
measured (as Dr. Biittikofcr once told me) across the arc of 
the wing, with a pair of callipers or compasses, and not over 
the wing, as some other ornitliologists do. There arc, of 
course, many kinds of inches besides the English ; in 
Whitaker^s Almanack about twenty will be found, though, 
for scientific purposes, they have now, 1 believe, all succumbed 
to the insidious millimetre, except the hardy native of these 
islands. But it matters not very much how the rule is 
graduated, so long as we all apply it in a similar manner. 
“ The principal parts measured are the wing, tail, bill, and 
tarsus. 
“ The text-books tell us that the wing is measured from 
carpus to tip. It is sometimes measured over the convex 
upperside with a tape or flexible band ; or, it is measured 
with a stiff rule placed under the wing, the remiges being 
straightened out ; or, thirdly, with a pair of compasses or 
callipers, and the natural curve of the feathers not altered. 
