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Fraser¹ remarked to me at Zoological Society, that you never find two similar groups of birds in two countries, without intermediate ones occurring in intermediate country — i.e. mundine groups.—

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Waterhouse² tells me in insects there are many plenty of instances of insects of one tribe taking on structure (probably accompanied by habits) of other, thus in Chalcididous insects, which I brought from Australia, probably live in flower & have Elytra formed from development of some other part of body.— there are hemipterous insects having spiny legs & running quick & general appearance of blattae.—

¹ Louis Fraser (1810-1866), ornithologist, collector and curator of the Museum of the Zoological Society of London. (JvW)
² George Robert Waterhouse.

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other Hemiptera strikingly resemble Coleoptera.—
Donacia. some orthopterous insects & some third [?], have got thighs with same peculiar structure & habits of clinging to rushes similar.— The question which I more immediately want are there Heteromera, which have habits & part structure like Cuculionidae.— Are there any Crysomelidae, with similar habits. But the Horae Entomologicae will tell this.—
What peculiar conditions the Staphylinidae on St. Pauls Rock must be placed under.

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Gould¹ says most subgenera confined to continent, though we have seen species of subgenera scattered over it.—
We have abundant instances of remarkable structures which as far as species is concerned superabundant. The tail in cock peacock, widow bird. Birds of Paradise, Trogons.— the one feather in wing the curious feathers in tail of Edolius.—

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Remarkable how small detail in structure prevail amongst the same species & subgenera in families.— thus the banded tarsi is common to all the Laniadae & Muscicapidae of new World, but not found in Old World.—

¹ John Gould ; cf. Proc. Zool. Soc, 1834, Part II, p. 14.

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If in any well developed family (Gould says)¹ there is any marked ++ colouring of plumage (as black & white bars on wings of Trogons or lengthened rump feathers) & then & one species has small band & others large, then he says from long experience you may be almost sure, that there exist intermediate species.— This is remarkable & would lead one to suppose that species in same group generally contemporary.

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++ This would lead one to expect that fossil forms would generally fill up genera & not species, which is not true with shells ??? It looks as if animals perished by errors.—

¹ cf. ibid., p. 25.

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It is most wonderful how in every family of birds, even the most strongly marked, there is a preeminently aerial, formed for flight & great movement in the air, & likewise rasorial species & likewise perching (Gould),¹ but the latter is obvious because all are so.—

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Thus in Hawks there is a swallow, both in structure & habits (it cannot be doubted that if swallow perished hawks & milvulus &c would instantly fill up their place.) — Humming bird there is strongly marked variety: in the Tyrannidae.— Milvulus.— Even flying woodpeckers, with powerful wings, but

¹ General statements to this effect are to be found in Gould's Introduction to The Birds of Europe, London, 1837, and in his Monograph of the Trogonidae, London, 1835-8.

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tail stiff.— swallow & goat-sucker likewise exaggerated.— There is one most remarkable connection between these aerial representatives of the different families.— that sexes have same plumage.— this is applicable to swallow-hawk, (this not the case in swallow ??? which is most wonderful of all? whether in most aerial of swallow) Milvulus. & still more wonderfully to the Humming bird, which is one instance of its whole family where female is not dull.— I must observe that this pre-eminent structure is not always applicable to same habits, though swallow hawk, milvulus, may catch insects on the wing & pratancola (?connected