NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 9 



(1862.) Newton, Ibis, Oct. From among the many contributions to the 

 Natural History of the Great Auk, this admirable paper is selected for special 

 mention, both as embodying about all that was known upon the subject pre- 

 vious to its publication, and as containing the results of the diligent and care- 

 ful researches of the author and Mr. J. Wolley, in Iceland. It is probably the 

 best article upon the subject extant ; to which the reader may refer in full 

 confidence that he will find an epitome of our present knowledge. Mr. New- 

 ton is of opinion that the Great Auk may still live. He attributes the extinc- 

 tion to which it is surely doomed, mainly to direct human interference. The 

 paper is again referred to, and quoted, in the present memoir. 



(1867.) ScHLEGEL, Catalogue of the 3Iuseum of the Pai/s-Bas, livraison ix. 

 The article " Alca " is in one sense nearly a monograph of the subject, since 

 the greater part of the species of the family are represented in the Museum of 

 the Pays-Bas, and therefore admitted as valid by the author. Unfortunately, 

 however, the author's ultra-conservatism, on matters specific as well as 

 generic, does not allow him to keep pace with the progress of science, and as 

 a consequence, his system of nomenclature and classification is simply curious. 

 One seeks in vain to divine the reason for the maintenance and expression of 

 such peculiar views, unless it be the author's intention to administer a sort of 

 counter-irritant as a remedy against Brehmomania, or to launch a severe 

 satire against the "furor genericus," and other crying evils of the day. Such 

 extreme views, if discreetly indulged for either of the charitable purposes just 

 suggested, are perhaps excusable ; the only question is, whether the remedy is 

 not worse than the disease. 



Aside from its value as a Museum Catalogue, the present article is chiefly 

 useful for its accurate indications of different stages of plumage, of differences 

 in dimensions of variable species, and as affording soiue interesting data in 

 the way of locality. The " genus Alca " is made to hold all iho, Alchife and 

 all the Urinx. The Starikis appear under the genus Shtwrhynchus ; the Puffins 

 under Lunda. It is impossible to subject this arrangement to criticism, since 

 in it there is nothing approaching a classification, and arbitrary illogical 

 opinion is not to be brought under critical review. The common Guillemot 

 appears as " Alca lomvia," though no point of synomymy is more incontestible 

 than that its proper specific name is troile. Ringvia is considered as a variety 

 of the same. Uria columba is not regarded as valid, apparently because the 

 wing-patch of Uria grylle is well known to vary in its characters. Alca 

 pygmwa Gm., Una pusilla Pall, and Phaleris viicroceros are thrown together 

 under the common name of " Simorhynchus pygmseus." Alca ietraciila Pall., 

 and Uria duMa Pall., are both regarded as the young of cristatcUm. Sagnia- 

 torrhina Lathami, Bonaparte, and Ccrorhina Suckleyi, Cassin, are both referred 

 to Alca monocerata, Pallas. Mormon glacialis Leach is not recognized. The 

 Brachyrhamphi are not included ; but the highly characteristic remark occurs, 

 (p. 21) "11 convient d'etudierde rechef les oiseaux decrits sous les epithetes 

 de Kittlitzii, Wrangeli et brachyptera, et meme I'Alca marmorata " ! 



(1867.) JSalvadori, Descr. All. Nuov. Ucc. Mits. di Torino.— Uria Craveri 

 described. This a new Brachyrharnphus from California, closely allied to B. 

 hypoleucus. (Species now thirty-two.) 



Of the thirty-two species noted in the preceding paragraphs, and held to be 

 valid, twenty-eight are contained in the various American collections to which 

 the writer has had access, and are in the present paper identified and described 

 directly from the specimens themselves. The four species not examined are : 

 "Uria" dubia Pallas; Brachyramphus brachypterus Brandt; Sagmatorrhina 

 Zff?Ar77«2 Bonaparte ; and " Uria" Craveri Salvadori. Of the two last the writer 

 has received some information through private channels, beyond that con- 

 tained in the published papers ; of the two first he knows nothing, except from 

 the original descriptions. 



1868.] 



