540 'Recently published Ornithological Works. 



The third or " Systematic " division, which concludes the 

 work and is of great importance to the working ornithologist, 

 seems to be very full and complete. The new genera and 

 species and other discoveries in each family are arranged 

 in systematic order according to the new ' Hand-list/ and 

 are referred to by the author^s name and the number of his 

 paper in the list of titles, and short explanatory notes are 

 added where they are required. We may remark that the 

 correct name of the '' Order " of the American Vultures 

 should be written " Cathartiformes " not Cathartidiformes, 

 as the genitive of KadapTtj'i is KaOaprov not KadapTLScj. 



76. Thomas on the Ceylonese Jungle-fowl. 



[Hybridization Experiments witli the Ceylon Jungle-fowl. By 

 J. Llewellyn Thomas, F.R.C.S. Spolia Zeylanica, iv. pp. 19, 158 

 (1907).] 



Mr. Thomas and his friends in Ceylon have been making 

 experiments in breeding hybrids between the Jungle-fowl of 

 Ceylon {Gallus stanleyi) and the domestic fowl, usually held 

 to have descended from G. bankiva, and matching the hybrids 

 in various ways. These experiments are described in the 

 two papers cited above. The following conclusions have 

 been arrived at : — 



(1) The hybrids are not sterile when bred inter se. 



(2) The hybrids are not sterile when matched with the 



domestic parent {i. e. hybrid cock with domestic 

 hen) . 



(3) There is some indication that the hybrids are not 

 •. . 1 -sterile when matched with the Jungle-fowl 



/!.; (i. e. Jungle-cock and hybrid hen). 



The alleged sterility of these hybrids cannot, therefore, 

 be adduced, as it was by Darwin, as one of the proofs that 

 Gallus stanleyi is not the parent stock of the domestic fowl. 



Further experiments on this interesting subject will, it is 

 hoped, be made. 



