Letters, Extracts, Notices, ^c. 479 



eluding some fifty or more types, a collection which formed 

 the basis of his recent monograph of the family. Next comes 

 the addition, by purchase, of Mr. George N. Lawrence's col- 

 lection, comprising about 3000 species and some 800 types 

 of birds from North America, Mexico, the West Indies, 

 Central and South America — a reference collection of high 

 value, inasmuch as it contains the types of nearly all the 

 species described by our veteran Foreign Member. By pur- 

 chase also the Museum has acquired 4000 bird-skins, belong- 

 ing to about 300 species, with about 150 clutches of identified 

 eggs, obtained by Mr. H. Smith in the province of Matto 

 Grosso, Brazil [supra, p. 244). In the exhibition-series of 

 birds, eighteen elaborate '' group pieces,"" arranged in twelve 

 cases placed in the alcoves of the " Bird Floor," illustrate 

 the nesting-habits of the species represented, after the plan 

 adopted in our Natural History Museum at Kensington. 

 The funds for these groups, and for some twenty more which 

 will be added in the course of the year, are supplied by the 

 generosity of Mrs. Robert E. Stuart, an atonement-offering 

 for the sins of the American plume-wearers, which may be 

 recommended for imitation by English ladies. Lastly, Mr. 

 D. G. Elliotts fine ornithological library, comprising about 

 1000 volumes, has been purchased and presented to the Mu- 

 seum by Messrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt and Percy R. Pyne, 

 two of its trustees. We heartily congratulate Professor J. 

 A. Allen on these acquisitions by the Department over which 

 he so worthily presides. 



Obituary. — We regret to record the death of a promising 

 young naturalist, Mr. Thomas Henry Bowyer Bower, who 

 was already known for his explorations in the interior of 

 Queensland, where he procured many interesting species, 

 among the principal being Cracticus rufescens and Scenopceus 

 dentirostris. Last year he proceeded to Western Australia, 

 accompanied by Mr. Walter Burton, and made large collec- 

 tions on the Fitzroy River, the bulk of which, however, were 

 lost by a disastrous fire in the camp ; and he unfortunately 

 contracted a sharp attack of fever, which developed into 

 typhoid at Port Darwin, where he died last January in his 



