244 Recent Ornithological Publications. 



genera Megapodius, Chalcopkaps, Tamjsiptera, Cacatua, and 

 Nisus. M. Crommelin's papers refer chiefly to the ornithology 

 of Holland; and M. Keuleman's contribution consists of re- 

 marks on the birds of the Cape Verde Islands, and the Ilha do 

 Principe in the Gulf of Guinea. 



M. de la Fontaine has completed the ornithological portion of 

 his Fauna of Luxembourg*, the first part of which we noticed 

 last year (Ibis, 1866, p. 310). Two hundred and seventy-six 

 species are enumerated ; but from this number should probably 

 be deducted nearly a dozen for poultry, pigeons, and species of 

 a very doubtful character, such as Cuculus kepaticus (p. 161) 

 and Perdix damascena (p. 165). The author includes " Ardea 

 minor, Wils.^^ (p. 214), which he curiously states is probably 

 identical with the Common Bittern. We greatly doubt his 

 having seen a real example of the American species so named 

 by Wilson, and we are not aware that Professor Schlegel has 

 ever refused to acknowledge the distinctness of Botaurus lenti- 

 ginosus and B. stellaris. As the nationality of the Luxem- 

 bourgeois is just now supposed to be a matter of importance in 

 high quarters, perhaps M. de la Fontaine will pardon our point- 

 ing out this case ; for it would seem undesirable to further com- 

 plicate the question by the needless introduction of an American 

 element. 



Under the title of ' Archives Cosmologiques ' and the editor- 

 ship of M. Alphonse Dubois, a new periodical has recently made 

 its appearance at Brussels. How far it will be successful we 

 cannot pretend to ssay ; but, in the interest of a special branch 

 of natural science, we must protest against the publication, in 

 a journal which professes to take in, besides Biology, Medicine, 

 Agriculture, the Arts, and Industry, of any papers but those of 

 a most general character. When we consider the enormous 



* Faiiue du Pays de Luxembourg, ou Manuel de Zoologie contenant 

 la description des Animaux Vertebres observes dans le Pays de Luxem- 

 bourg. Par Alphonse de la Fontaine. Oiseaux. — Deuxieme Partie. 

 Luxembourg : 1866. 8vo, pp. 174. 



