1895. RESULTS OF ''CHALLENGER'' EXPEDITION. 71 



Considering that the principal function of the 'f Challenger " was 

 to collect deep-sea creatures, the collection of Birds formed by the 

 Expedition was highly creditable, especially to Mr. John Murray, 

 who interested himself in the matter. The result was that 900 speci- 

 mens were collected, and several new species were obtained. To 

 work out these collections Dr. Sclater, who was entrusted with their 

 description, called to his aid several well-known ornithological experts, 

 such as Count Salvadori, the late Marquis of Tweeddale, Dr. Otto 

 Frinsch, Mr. Osbert Salvin, and Mr. Howard Saunders. 



The two most important collections were those made in the 

 Philippine Islands, when several new species were discovered, and in 

 the Admiralty Islands, which was untrodden ground to the naturalist, 

 and here the bulk of the species procured were new to science. The 

 other memoirs deal with more well-worn subjects, as all the localities 

 visited by the " Challenger " had been, more or less, explored by 

 previous naturalists and collectors, and no novelties were to be expected ; 

 but the thorough way in which Mr. Murray procured specimens of birds 

 on every possible occasion resulted in the addition of an extremely 

 fine series of Penguins and other sea-birds to the British Museum. 

 The portion of vol. ii. devoted to the birds embraces an important 

 series of memoirs, amounting to 180 pages, and is illustrated by thirty 

 coloured plates by Smitt. 



The two most important memoirs are, of course, those by the 

 late W. A. Forbes, on the Petrels (Tubinares), and Dr. Morrison 

 Watson on the Penguins (Spheniscidae). The former of these reports 

 is published in the fourth volume of the series, and the latter in the 

 seventh. Both of these memoirs are of the highest importance to 

 science, and have had a marked influence on the classification of the 

 orders of which they treat. They are, moreover, excellently arranged 

 as regards material and tabulation of results, and, though Dr. 

 Watson's is the larger of the two reports, they are both very complete. 

 If nothing besides these two contributions to the history of the Class 

 Aves had been published in the " Challenger " Report, Mr. John 

 Murray would have earned the gratitude of ornithologists for all 

 time for the interest he displayed in collecting such a rich store of 

 material. 



R. BOWDLER ShARPE. 



Of the Mammalia, whether from land or sea, no great collections 

 were obtained by the " Challenger." She was not fitted as a whaler, 

 and the cetacean specimens obtained were mostly in the form of 

 skulls and bones. The marine mammals could have yielded no richer 

 results than were obtained by the accomplished anatomist, Sir 

 William Turner, who has kindly sent us the following note : — 



In the memoir on the Cetacea collected during the voyage, the 

 skeleton of a young specimen of Layard's Whale, Mesoplodon layardi, 

 from the Falkland Islands, is described for the first time, and is 



