VOL. III.] Recent Literature. 63 



the more important for the future, is that mode of selection which 

 will inevitably come into action through the ever -increasing free- 

 dom, joined with the higher education of woman." This second 

 must indeed be a factor of great importance, it would seem, although 

 by no means the only one. Selection of the best existing cannot 

 alone produce anything better than the best. C. A. K. 



The Atck for January, 1892, contains nothing of special interest 

 to the Pacific Coast. The supplement containing the address by the 

 president, Mr. D. G. Elliot, on The Inheritance of Acquired Char- 

 acters, is a timely and interesting discussion of this vital problem 

 in biology, and deserves a careful reading. The closing words of 

 the address are especially worthy of consideration by our American 

 ornithologists. " The subject I have discussed offers a new field 

 for ornithologists to explore: one of a higher plane, and permitting 

 a wider vision than many of those they are accustomed to tread. I 

 submit it to my younger colleagues, who have time and opportuni- 

 ties before them, as of infinitely more importance than the discovery 

 and naming of new forms, which is by no means the beginning and 

 end of ornithology, but rather, if I may so term it, the ABC of the 

 science; and then, by their contributions towards the elucidation of 

 my theme, they will benefit not only those who are devoted to our 

 own branch, but also scientific men throughout the world." His 

 arguments would have had more weight if they had not been stated 

 from so obviously a partisan standpoint. Some of the instances 

 which he gives in proof of the inheritance of acquired characters 

 may be equally well explained in other ways, and hence are not 

 conclusive. c. a. k. 



A Preliminary Study of t/ie Grackles of the Subgenus Qiiiscalus. 

 By Frank M. Chapman. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., iv, 1-20. 

 The subgenus Ouiscalus has always been known as a puzzling group 

 of birds, but the real complexity of the inter-relationship of the dif- 

 ferent forms was probably not fully realized before the appearance 

 of Mr. Chapman's comprehensive review. Although 845 specimens 

 were examined, this material was found insufficient to complete the 

 study of the group. Certain questions of vital importance are, how- 

 ever, apparently settled. The three forms, Ouisca/us czneus, 

 Q. quiscula, and Q. quiscula aglcEus, are carefully described, and 

 in a summary a brief diagnosis of each form is given, including 



