286 



SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



nervous and cardiopulmonary disturbances. A certain diminution of 

 susceptibility can be induced by repeated doses. Subcutaneous or peri- 

 toneal injection is not followed by nervous or respiratory disturbances, 

 but induced by glycosuria. 



Modifications observed in Carnivorous Fowls.* — F. Houssay com- 

 pares, as to moulting, excretion, and weight of kidneys, three sets of 

 fowls, (a) graminivorous, (b) carnivorous for one generation, and (c) 

 carnivorous for two generations. He shows a marked and progressive 

 increase in the weight of feathers lost in moulting, a marked increase 

 in the weight of the kidneys and in the amount of uric excretion. 



Classification of Birds.j — R. W. Shufeldt discusses in a learned 

 paper the classification of certain groups of birds. We cannot do more 

 than indicate his mode of arrangement. 



I. Order Saururae. 



Super suborder. Suborder. Super/amity. Family. 



Archornithiformes. Archornithes. . . Archa3opterida3, 



Including Archceopteryx, and, provisionally, Laopteryx. 



II. Order Ornithurae. 



Dromaeognathae. 



Suborder. 

 Struthiornithes. 

 Rheornithes. 



Casuariornithes. 



Dinornithes. 

 iEpyornithes. 



Super suborder. Suborder. Superf amity. Families. 



Struthionidse. 

 Rheidae. 



{Dromaiidae. 

 Casuaridae. 

 Dromornithidae.. 

 Dinornithidae. 

 iEpyornithidae. 



Supersuborder III. Odontoholcae. 



Suborder. Superf amity . Families. 



Pygopoformes. Hesperornithoidea. Hesperornithidas.. 



Enaliornithidae. 



Of all these, careful diagnoses are given by this well-known ornitho- 

 logical expert. 



Birds of North and Middle America.^ — Robert Ridgway has pub- 

 lished the second part of his descriptive catalogue, which deals with the 

 Tanagers (Tanagrida3), Troupials (Icteridae), Honey Creepers (Ccere- 

 bidEe), and Wood- Warblers (Mniotiltidae). 



Course of the Taste-Fibres.§— H. Cushing draws some interesting 

 deductions from thirteen cases of Gasserian ganglion extirpation. (1) 

 The perception of taste is unaffected on the posterior portion of the 

 tongue, and never permanently or completely lost on its anterior two- 

 thirds after removal of the Gasserian ganglion. (2) A temporary 



• Comptes Kendus, cxxxv. (1902) pp. 1061-3. 



t Amer. Natural., xxxviii. ( 1903) pp. 33-64 (1 rig.). 



j Bull. U.S. Nat. Museum No. 50 (1902) xvii. and 834 pp. (22 pis.). 



§ Bull. Johns Hopkins Hospital, xiv. (1903) pp. 71-8 (2 figs.). 



