Letters, Ejctracts, Notices, !^c. 169 



nation of the collection of birds in the Polytechnicum of 

 that city, which is under the care of the Conservator, Dr. 

 Moesch. The specimens, which are all mounted, occupy 

 some twenty cases in a large room, the centre of which is 

 devoted to Mammals, They are much too crowded on the 

 shelves. They have been all determined by Dr. INIoesch, 

 and arranged according to the nomenclature and classification 

 of Gray^s ' Hand-list,' the names there given as subgenera 

 being employed generically. For instance. Tardus migra- 

 torius is labelled " Hoduipurus migratorius.'^ There are many 

 good original specimens from Sumatra, South Africa, and 

 the Falklands. Amongst rarer specimens may be noticed 

 examples of Cyanornyius coelestis from the Philippines, Pilo- 

 rhinus albirostris from Abyssinia, Clytoceyx rex from New 

 Guinea, and Ayelustes meleayrides from Liberia. A specimen 

 of Phalacrocorax pygmceus is labelled as having been shot 

 near Dietikon, in Canton Zurich, on October 25th, 1856. 

 There is no separate Swiss series. — P. L. S. 



Report of the British Museum {Natural History) for 1894. 

 — The Annual Report of the Trustees of the British Museum 

 reached us too late last year to be noticed in the October 

 number of ' The Ibis.' We now extract from it several 

 paragraphs which will interest the readers of ' The Ibis.' 



After a notice of the publication of the twenty-second 

 volume of the ' Catalogue of Birds,' it is announced that the 

 following further volumes are in preparation : — Vol. xxiii. 

 (Rails, Cranes, and Bustards) and vol. xxiv. (Waders), by 

 Dr. R. B. Sliarpe ; vol. xxv. (Gulls and Petrels), by Mr. H. 

 Saunders and Mr. O. Salvin; vol. xxvi. (Divers, Pelicans, 

 Cormorants, and Herons), by Dr. R. B. Sharpe ; and vol. 

 xxvii. (Geese, Ducks, and the remainder of the Birds), by- 

 Count T. Salvadori. 



As regards the collection of Birds'-eggs we are told that 

 the arrangement of them, which was entrusted to Mr. 

 Seebohm in 1891, has been completed. All the specimens, 

 46,900 in number, have been named, and have had written 

 upon them references to the locality where (and generally to 



SER. VII. VOL. I. N 



