Collections of the University of Cambridge. 51 



Special mention should be made of the Dinornithidse, Alca impennis, 

 Pezophaps, and Didus ; Gallinula nesiotis, Aphanapteryx, Erythro- 

 machus and Diaphorapteryx, Lophopsittacus and other subfossils from 

 Mauritius ; Funingus, Glaucopis, Turnagra, Clitonyx, and Miro ; not 

 to mention numerous preparations illustrative of special structures, 

 development, degeneration, the inheritance of acquired characters, 

 convergence, &c. 



C— Eggs. 



There are several collections of Eggs and a considerable number of 



Nests. 

 I. The ' Ootheca Wolleyana ' has G076 paragraphs or entries of eggs, 

 comprising from 1 to 36 (cf. § 4875, Guillemot) specimens each, 

 mostly more than 2, so that the total number surpasses with 

 certainty 12,000, and probably approaches 20,000 specimens. 

 However, anyone who thinks the correct number important 

 enough and worth his time, ma}' count them himself in the well- 

 printed Catalogue. In reality there are a good many more 

 specimens in the Egg-cabinets than are mentioned in the 

 ' Ootheca ' ; perhaps these were intended for duplicates. Most of 

 the eggs have been written upon, and every one contains at least 

 a " v. p." and a number. The number refers to a page in the 

 twelve MS. volumes, which are nothing less than Newton's 

 Egg- Diary, begun in the year 1843 and ending, with consecutive 

 pagination, in February 1907, a few months before his death. 

 Comparatively few of this vast number of eggs have yet been 

 properly arranged. Newton, knowing them almost individually, 

 alone knew where to find them in the cabinets, and they were, 

 until recently, his private property. 



II. Besides the eggs catalogued in the ' Ootheca Wolleyana] Newton 

 made a collection of those of birds outside the Palaearctic region. 

 He, however, did not pay much attention to it. The eggs, many 

 of them decidedly rare, were accepted as they happened to 

 come in, were registered in the Egg-diary and then put away. 

 Altogether there may be about 2500 specimens in this " General 

 Collection." 



To tell the truth, Newton never cared much about eggs from a 

 scientific point of view, and he told me more than once that he 

 did not think that much could be got out of their study ; in 

 short, that it was not a " logy," as it did not lend itself to deduc- 

 tive conclusions, and that the systematic value of eggs was very 

 limited. " You cannot state upon oath what kind a given egg- 

 is, unless you have seen the mother bird fly off, and that is but 

 circumstantial evidence." The interesting correlations between 

 eggs, nests, and environment did not appeal to him, because of 



e2 



