Vol. XIX. 



1919 



Reviews. Ij^g 



CoKaciifonitcs : now, without cNplanatioii or (Icfmition, carh of 

 those famihos is phuH'd as a >ri)aratr order. 



Sub-species are still being created in a wholesale la^hlon, " strict 

 recognition of geographical range " being counselled. Does this 

 mean that the scientist may not at times be able to name the 

 sub-species in a hand S]iecinu'n without tln' help of the locality 

 label ? 



Australians are pleased to hear that then' are now good prospects 

 that Mr. Mathews will com])lete his great work. We wish him 

 continued success. 



MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE OOLOGY. 

 The late Prof. Alfred Newton once, writing to an Australian, 

 stated that " it cannot be denied that in certain respects oology 

 has disappointed some of its votaries, but the same may be said 

 of many other branches of study which were at one time thought 

 to promise remarkable results, and I consider that this is no valid 

 reason for the abandonment of oological investigation." 



However, a Museum of Comparative Oology has been founded 

 at Santa Barbara, California, and has set itself the task of 

 accumulating the phylogenetic evidence offered by the eggs of 

 the birds of the world. Its ambitions in this direction are 

 boundless. The promoters are very confident. They claim 

 " that there are great truths to learn, laws to be pointed out, in 

 the humble realm of oology," and the museum " was founded in 

 the belief that laws so discovered would throw a flood of light 

 upon the trend of Life itself, and that the egg from which all life 

 comes, if properly interrogated, will tell us something of Life's 

 whence and, mayhap, of Life's whither. At any rate, there is not 

 in the entire realm of the bird- world a structure more significant, 

 nor a record more eloquent, than that furnished by the painted 

 oval which forms at once the fragile cradle and the enduring 

 monument of the race." 



A charter was issued on the 27th January, igi(), by the State 

 of California to a board of trustees, fifteen in number, as a self- 

 governing body pledged to the maintenance of the Santa Barbara 

 institution, whose every resource is dedicated to the cause of 

 ornithological science, and in particular " to the exploitation of 

 that knowledge which may be acquired through a study of birds' 



Although the institution has been in existence for over four 

 years, and has made good progress. The Journal of the Museiini of 

 Comparative Oology (a double number) has only recently (26/3/i()) 

 been published ; thereafter it is intended to be a quarterly issue. 

 From the original number may be gathered the history and scope 

 of the M.C.O., with photographic evidence of " the Museum " 

 itself (temporary quarters), " Main Building, Showing 3-Unit 

 Cases," " The Annex Giant Cases, 7-Unit (Cubic Yards), c\:c.," 

 " Tricoloured Redwing Series of Eggs," " Drawer Showing Eggs 



