Recently published Ornithological Works. 055 



lection of Australian birds upon which Gonld had based his 

 great work, and Capt. Boys's Indian collection, besides a 

 number of other smaller lots and scattered specimens. All 

 these specimens were remounted by Verreaux freres, at that 

 time the largest and best-known firm of natural-history 

 dealers in Europe^ and transmitted to the shelves of the 

 Academy's Museum, where they were aranged and studied 

 by Cassin. Unfortunately no care was taken to raise a fund 

 for the support of a curator of this magnificent series, so 

 that, after the death of Dr. AVilson in 1865 and of Cassin in 

 1869, all work on it ceased until recently, when the author 

 of the present paper took up the subject. It being now 

 universally acknowledged that it is worse than useless to 

 keep valuable specimens mounted and exposed to the light, 

 except such as are required for exhibition to the general 

 public, we are pleased to learn that, when the rearrangement 

 of the Academy's collection was commenced in 1891, it was 

 wisely determined to unmount all the types and valuable 

 specimens, as well as many of the duplicates, and to place 

 them in cabinets, while leaving an ample exhibition series of 

 about 10,000 specimens still unmounted. The total number 

 of specimens in the Academy's collection in 1898 was reckoned 

 at 43,460. Mr. Stone now gives us a complete list of the 

 types in the collection, arranged under the names of the 

 authors who have described them, and appends many critical 

 and useful remarks. A complete catalogue of Gould's 

 Australian Collection, we are told, has been prepared in 

 MS., and may be published later on. 



104. Tegetmeier on the House-Sparrow . 



[The House-Sparrow (The Avian Rat), in relation to Agriculture and 

 Gardening, with Practical Suggestions for lessening its Numbers. By 

 W. B. Tegetmeier, F.Z.S. With an Appendix by Eleanor A. Ormerod, 

 F.E.S. 8vo. Vinton & Co. : London, 1899.] 



The views of our friend Mr. Tegetmeier on the desirable- 

 ness of limiting the numbers of the House-Sparrow {Passer 

 domesticus) in this country are well known, and his pamphlet 

 on the subject, written in conjunction with Miss Ormerod, has 



