HARD JVICKE'S S CIENCE- G OSS I P. 



4i 



which is contained a copious report of the progress 

 of the exploration for the year 1875, written by 

 Dr. F. V. Ilayden. The volume is attractive, 

 although bulky, and is copiously illustrated by maps 

 and sections. A zoological appendix furnishes us with 

 the new discoveries concerning the wild animals and 

 insects of the districts surveyed ; and this part is also 

 abundantly illustrated with plates. The generosity 

 of the United States Government in supplying foreign 

 men of science with numerous copies of their scientific 

 books is in strong contrast with the niggardliness with 

 which our own Geological Survey publications are 

 dribbled out. 



The Solitaire. — In the Annals and Magazine 

 vf Natural History, Prof. Owen gives a lengthy de- 

 scription of this extinct bird, based on the remains 

 brought home from the island of Rodriguez during 

 the Venus Transit expedition. The Solitaire 

 {Pezophaps solitaria, Strkl.) was a huge ground-dove, 

 about three feet long, whose wings gradually became 

 aborted until it could no longer fly. The absence of 

 any extirpating enemies (until man appeared), and 

 the presence of abundant food, enabled the Solitaire 

 to acquire its great size. 



The Geologists' Association. — Besides some 

 well-written and profitable descriptions of several 

 visits made by the members of this association to 

 the Crag districts of Suffolk ; Grays, Essex ; Leices- 

 tershire ; to Caterham, Godstone, Tilburstow, 

 Nutfield, Hampstead, Guildford, and Derbyshire, 

 the last two parts of their " Proceedings " contain 

 papers by the Rev. J. F. Blake, on "The Restora- 

 tion of Extinct Animals"; "On the Geology of 

 Leicestershire," by W. J. Harrison, F.G. S. ; "On 

 the Flints of the Chalk of Yorkshire," by J. H. 

 Mortimer, F.G.S. ; on " The Forms of the Genus 

 jlficraster," by C. Evans, F.G.S. ; the " Geology of 

 the Eastern portion of the Banbury and Cheltenham 

 Direct Railway," by T. Beesley, F.C.S., &c. 



" Fur-bearing Animals " is the title of a mono- 

 graph by Dr. Elliott Coues on the North American 

 MnstelidiE, and is published as one of the United States 

 Geological Survey works. It gives a detailed account 

 of the Wolverine, theMartens or Sables, Ermine, Minx, 

 and various other kinds of Weasels ; of several species 

 of Skunks, of the Badger, Sea-otter, Land-otter, 

 and allies of these animals. This compact and handy 

 volume is illustrated with sixty figures on twenty 

 plates. It is published by the Government Printing 

 Office, Washington, U.S. 



The Huge Fossil Bird from Sheppey. — At a 

 recent meeting of the Geological Society of London, 

 Prof. Owen described some remains of a large bird 

 obtained by Mr. W. H. Shrubsole from the London 

 Clay of Sheppey, consisting of parts of fractured 

 humeri belonging to the right and left sides of the 

 same species, or perhaps individual, and including the 



head of the bone, with portions of the upper and 

 lower parts of the shaft. The texture of the shaft. 

 the thinness of its bony wall, and the large size of the 

 cavity, recall the characters of the wing-bones of the 

 large Cretaceous Pterodactyles. The author indicated 

 the characters which led him to regard the remains 

 under consideration as those of a volant bird, most 

 nearly approaching the genera Pelecanus and Dio- 

 inedca ; and as the evidence derived from the cranium 

 of Dasornis would indicate a bird too large to be up- 

 borne by wings to which these bones might have be- 

 longed, whilst the skull of Odontopteryx is far too small 

 to have formed part of a bird with wings as large as 

 those of the Albatross,— and Lit/iomisand Pelargornis 

 are excluded by the characters of their remains, the 

 author concluded that the bones obtained by Mr. 

 Shrubsole furnished indications of a new genus and 

 species of flying birds, for which he proposed the 

 name of Argillornis longipennis. He regarded it as 

 probably a long-winged natatorial bird, most nearly 

 related to Diomedea, but considerably exceeding the 

 Albatross {D. exulans) in size. 



Geological History of the Deer Family. — 

 At the same meeting Prof. Boyd Dawkins gave an 

 outline of the history of Deer during the Miocene 

 and Pliocene periods. He said the majority of known 

 antlers could be referred to two types, — an earlier or 

 capreoline, and a later or axidine. In the Middle 

 Miocene period the cervine antler consisted of a 

 simply forked crown. In the Upper Miocene it had 

 become more complex. In the Pliocene it had become 

 still more complex and complicated ; and in this respect 

 the development of antlers in time represented that 

 in age of the same individual. The nearest living 

 analogue of the Miocene Deer is, according to the 

 antler, the Muntjak [Styloceros), now found only in 

 the oriental region of Asia, along with the Tapir, which 

 also coexisted with Ccrvits dicranoceros in the Miocene 

 forests of Germany. The Pliocene Deer, again, are 

 generally most nearly allied to the oriental Axis and 

 Rusa Deer, the only exception being Ccn'us aisanus, 

 the antlers of which resemble those of the Roe, an 

 animal widely spread over Europe and Northern and 

 Central Asia. The alliance of these Pliocene Deer 

 with those now living in the Indian region is regarded 

 by the author as a further proof of the warm climate 

 of Europe in Miocene times, confirmatory of the 

 conclusions arrived at by Saporta from the study of 

 the vegetation. 



The Fossil Fungus. — In the December number 

 of the Science-Gossip is a reprint of a paper on 

 a fossil fungus, in which Mr. G. W. Smith is repre- 

 sented as the discoverer. My knowledge of this 

 particular fungus induces me to dispute his claim to 

 its discovery. In the first place, the section from 

 which he has sketched the figures to illustrate his 

 paper came from my own cabinet. In the second 

 place, I read a short paper before the Scientific 



