224 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1895. 



SHUFELDT, Robert W.— Contimied. 



Rome, these lectures met with very marked 

 disfavor from such quarters. Through the 

 operation of Catholic influence it was found 

 impossihle for the author to print them, either 

 in Europe or America, until two years after 

 their delivery, and the reasons therefor are set 

 forth in the preface. Kot a few references are 

 made to the work accomplished by the U. S. 

 National Museum and to its collections. 



[Article on the Mocking Bird.] 



Dictionarii of Jiirdn. By Alfred Newton, 

 assisted by Hans Gadow. with contri- 

 butions i'rom Richard Lydekker, B. A., 

 F. R. S., Charles S. Roy, M. A., F. R. S., 

 and Robert W. Shufeldt, M. D. (late 

 U. S. Army). Pt in. London, 1894, 

 pp. 582-585. 

 A life history of Mimus polyglottus, oontrib- 

 nted to Newton's Dictionary of Birds, and one 

 that has been very favorably spoken of by not a 

 few British ornithologists, notwithstandingthe 

 fact thatits author 8ay 8 : " To compare him with 

 his only rival, the European Nightingale, seems 

 to me quite out of place, though I will say 

 that my faith in the powers of the Mocking- 

 bird is so firm, that I believe were he success- 

 fully introduced into those countries where 

 the Nightingale flourishes, that princely per- 

 former might some day wince as he was obliged 

 to listen to his own most powerful strains 

 poured forth with all their native purity by 

 this king of feathered mockers, the subject 

 of the present notice." 



SIMPSON, Charles Torrey. Types of 

 Anodonta dejecta rediscovered. 



Navtilus, vni. No. 5, Sept., 1894, pp. 52-53. 

 The types of Anodunta dejecta, Lewis, which 

 were in the National Museum collection, were 

 rediscovered by the writer in examining some 

 duplicate material, and prove to be the same as 

 his A. Mcarnsiana from the Pacific drainage. 

 The locality, "head of Arkansas River," given 

 for Lewis's types is no doubt erroneous. 



Patella (Helcioniscus) nigrisqua- 



niata, Rve. 



Nautilus, vni, No. 8, Dec, 1894, pp. 91-92. 



The writer shows that the shell named 



Patella honinensis by Pilsbry is only an adult 



form of P. nigris'juamata, named long ago by 



Reeve. 



Distribution of the land and fresh- 

 water mollusks of the West Indian 

 region and their evidence with regard 

 to past changes of land and sea. 



Proc. TJ. S. Kat. AIus., xvii, No. 1011, Jan. 

 26, 1895, pp. 425-450, pi. xvi, figs. 1-8. 

 In this paper some account is given of the 

 means of distribution of land and freshwater 

 snails. The theory is advanced that the land- 

 snail fauna of the Greater Antilles is ancient 

 and has developed on the islands, which for- 

 merly were more elevated and united together 



SIMPSON, Charles Torrey— Cont'd, 



as well as to Middle America, and, by way of 

 the Bahamas, to South Florida; that a subsid- 

 ence separated the islands from each other 

 and from Middle America, leaving only the 

 summits of the mountains above the sea, and 

 that they have since, during a period of uplift- 

 ing, reached their present elevation ; that the 

 land-snail faunaof theLesser Antillesis closely 

 related to that of South America, and that 

 there is no evidence that the Lesser Antilles 

 have ever been united to the Greater Antilles. 

 These deductions are drawn largely from bio- 

 logical evidence. 



Note on Unio oregoncnsis, Lea. 



Nautilus, vni. No. 10, Feb., 1895, pji. 116- 

 118. 

 The four type specimens of U. oretjonensis, 

 Lea are the only ones known, and the writer, 

 in carefuUj' comparing tliem with other species, 

 discovered that they were identical with the 

 forms which Lea had named Unio Poirclli and 

 Unio McNeili from Central America. The 

 locality of U. oregoncnsis (Oregon) is undoubt- 

 edly erroneous. 



Unio ochracexs and U. cariosns. 



Nautilus, vin. No. 11, Mar., 1895, pp. 1'21- 



123. Two woodcuts. 



In this jiapor an attempt is made to point out 



the dili'erences between the closely related 



U. eariosus and U. ochraceus, and to show that 



both are valid species. 



SMITH, John B. Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion. I United States National Mu- 

 seum. I — I Bulletin | of the ] United 

 States National Museum. | No. 48. 

 Contribution toward a Monograph of 

 the Insects | of the Lepidopterous 

 Family Noctuida'! of | Boreal North 

 America. — A Revision | of the Deltoid 

 Moths. I By I John B. Smith, Sc. D., 

 Professor of Entomology in Rutgers 

 College. I — I Washington: | Govern- 

 ment Printing Office. | 1895. 

 8vo, pp. 1-129, pis. l-xiv. 

 The introduction (pjj. 1-13) discusses the 

 systematic position of the group and its com. 

 ponciits. Thoy are divided into three tribes: 

 Helliini, Hermiini, and Hyphenini, and a syn- 

 opsis of the 19 genera is given (pp. 13-14). 

 The genera Pseudorgyia and Rivula are 

 excluded from the Deltoids. The ni.ain part of 

 the work (pp. 15-118) gives complete descrip- 

 tions of the genera and species, with full syn- 

 onymy, synoptic tables, and geographical 

 distribution. Seventy-three species are recog- 

 nized as valid (listed on pp. 119-120), of which 

 eight are described as new. Pis. i-ix give 

 excellent photo engravings of all species, and 

 pis. x-xiv illustrate structural characters. 



STEARNS, Robert E. C. The shells of 

 the Tres Marias and other localities 



