180 REPORT — 1844. 



cupied with the exotic species. He finds that these parasites constitute 

 numerous species, and exhibit many well-marked generic forms. The re- 

 markable fact is further deduced, that several genera of Anoplura frequent 

 certain groups of birds exclusively, so that there is a sort of parallelism be- 

 tween the affinities of birds and those of their insect parasites. Hence we 

 are able to infer the probable position in the natural series of an anomalous 

 bird by investigating the structure of the almost microscopical parasites 

 which infest its plumage, and this apparently paradoxical method has been 

 successfully applied by Mr. Denny, who has shown that the Atioplura in- 

 habiting tlie genus Talegalla are allied to those of the Rasores, and the para- 

 sites of Me?iuj-a to those of the Insessores, an arrangement entirely confirming 

 tlie views recently obtained as to the affinities of these singular birds (Ann. 

 Nat. Hist. vol. xiii. p. 313). 



2. Ornithology of particular regions, 



Europe. — The most important work ever published on the ornithology of 

 our own quarter of the globe is unquestionably the 'Birds of Europe' of 

 Mr. Govdd. This gigantic undertaking, consisting of more than 400 beauti- 

 fully coloured plates, would have sufficed, independently of his other elabo- 

 rate works, to stamp the author as a man of genius and of enterprise. Nor 

 should it be forgotten that the talents of Mr. Gould were most ably seconded 

 by his amiable partner, who, up to the time of her decease, executed the 

 lithographic department of iiis various works. The extensive patronage 

 which the 'Birds of Europe' received on the continent as well as in Britain, 

 is a proof both of the excellence of the work itself and of the scientific taste 

 of the present age. 



The long-expected supplements to Temniinck's ' Manuel d'Ornithologie' 

 made their appearance in 1835-40, and bring down our knowledge of Euro- 

 pean birds to tiie latter date. Although the author hesitates too much in 

 adopting the generic groups of modern science, and does not sufficiently 

 value the law of priority in nomenclature, yet the exactness of his descrip- 

 tions and the general soundness of his criticisms will long render his work 

 a valuable hand-book of European ornithology. The series of illustrative 

 plates, published at Paris by Werner, are a useful accompaniment to Tem- 

 minck's work. The ' Hist. Nat. des Oiseaux d'Europe', now publishing by 

 Schlegel, aided by several zoologists, and superintended by Temminck, may 

 be regarded as an improved and enlarged edition of the ' Manuel d'Ornitho- 

 logie'. The plates, by Susemihl, are of a superior order. Delarue's ' Galerie 

 Ornithologique' forms another set of illustrations to the birds of Europe. 



The ' Wirbelthiere Europa's' of Count Keyserling and Professor Blasius 

 is a well-digested synopsis of European vertebrate zoology. The first part, 

 with which alone I am acquainted, and which is devoted to Mammals and 

 Birds, contains an exact catalogue of the species, with their synonyms and 

 localities, and a statement of the diagnostic characters of the several groups 

 from the class down to the species. These characters are stated in an anti- 

 thetical mode very similar to the dichotomous method used in Fleming's 

 ' British Animals,' a method which, when viewed in its true light, as an arti- 

 ficial index to specific characters, and as a means of calling attention to the 

 presence or absence of certain structures, is probably superior to any other. 

 Indeed when the characters employed for the subdivisions are really essential, 

 and are placed in successive subordination according to a just estimate of 

 their functional importance, as seems to be generally the case in the work 

 before us, this method is quite compatible with a natural classification. The 

 authors have avoided the error of adopting indiscriminately every genus 



