THE OSPREY. 



157 



THE OSPREY. 



An lUuslrated Magnziiie of Tupular Orniiliold^'v. 



Published Monthly, except in July :ind -\u','ust, 



By the 



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JUVE. 1811!). 



No. 10 



Editorial Eyrie. 



NOTICE. 

 Dr. Cones ha.s retired from the editorship of 

 The OspkEV, and Dr. Gill, who had withdrawn 

 his name from the April and May numbers, 

 assumes control. All communications of every 

 nature and description —editorial, exchanges, 

 hooks for review, and business generallj' — should 

 lie addressed hereafter exclusively to The 

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ANNOUNCEMENT, 



As adverti.sed at the head of the first page and 

 editorial page of each number. The Osi'kev will 

 take a vacation during July and August in ac- 

 cordance with the precedent established before 

 the present Company took possession. If the 

 announcement had not been made in the number 

 of the present volume published before any idea 

 of purchasing the Magazine was entertained, 

 such a recess would not have been indulged in, 

 but the announcement having been made we 

 feel impelled to act upon it. 



The publication will be resumed with the 

 September number, and conducted in such a 

 manner as not to infringe on the rights or feel- 

 ings of others, and in harmony with all our 

 scientific brethren. Care will be taken that 

 the contributions to the Magazine shall be 

 worthy of a place in it, provision will be made 

 for the exposition of the characteristic features 

 of the avifaunas of our new possessions in the 

 Atlantic as well as Pacific oceans, and current 

 news of interest to ornithologists will be given 



in the successive numbers. Pertinent illustra- 

 tions will also be increased. 



The Loncevity of Birds and other 



VERTKnK.\TKS. 



"Ever)' species of animal has its determined 

 duration of life. This was well recognized by 

 Buffon: he even sought, and was, I believe the 

 first who did so, the physiological law of this 

 duration." 



Such was the declaration of Flourens, and the 

 thesis was sustained at length in his work, first 

 published in 1842, entitled "De la Longevite 

 Humaine." 



The g'eneralization was not restricted or quali- 

 fied as applicable only to any one class or group 

 of animals. The decision of that ■'duration of 

 life" was even attempted, and a quasi-law was 

 enunciated. It was an idea of BuflFon's, quoted 

 by Flourens, that the "duration of life, to some 

 e.xtent, may be measured by the time of growth; 

 an animal which acquires all its growth in a 

 short time, perishes very much sooner than 

 another which is longer in growing." 



The stag was taken as an illustration. 



As the stag, says Buffon in his account of the 

 animal, "is five or six years in growing, it al.so 

 lives seven times five or six years; that is, thirty- 

 five or forty years." 



Flourens comments on Buffon's idea in the 

 following terms: 



"The relatii>ii juilnted out by lUiflon is very 

 near the truth. He says that every animal lives 

 nearly six or seven times as long as the term of 

 his growth. The true relation is five, or very 

 nearly. 



"Man being twenty years growing, lives five 

 times twenty, that is to say, one hundred years. 

 The camel is eight years growing, and lives five 

 times eight, or forty years. The horse is five 

 years growing, and he lives five times five, that 

 is to say, twenty-five years; and so with the 

 rest. 



"We have then, finally, a precise characteristic 

 which gives us accurately the duration of growth; 

 the duration of growth gives us the duration of 

 life. All the phenomena of life are united by 

 the following chain of relations;— the duration of 

 life is given by the duration of growth; the du- 

 ration of growth is given by the duration of 

 gestation; the duration of gestation, by the 

 height etc., etc. The larger the animal, the 

 longer is the time of gestation. The gestation 

 of the rabbit is thirty days; that of man is 



