Vol. XIX 



IC)02 



I Recent Literature. 400 



Dubois's ' Synopsis Avium.' — Since our previous notice of this work 

 Parts V-X have appeared, completing the first volume.^ In the introduc- 

 tion the author states the purpose of the work to be to provide a simple 

 manual which shall indicate for each species and subspecies the principal 

 synonymy and the principal authors to be consulted. To have gone 

 beyond this would have exceeded the end in view. He has, however, 

 deemed it essential to add the habitat, and has given references in foot- 

 notes under the families to monographic works, when such exist, and to 

 the British Museum 'Catalogue of Birds,' where good descriptions may 

 be found. 



He says he was imable to force himself to adopt anv of the recent sys- 

 tems of classification, and has therefore followed, with slight modifica- 

 tions, that proposed by himself in 1891, in which the class Aves is divided 

 into the two subclasses Gymnopaedes and Ptilopsedes, proposed by Sunde- 

 vall. The system of Huxley is criticised as widely separating closely allied 

 groups, and as bringing other groups into close juxtaposition which in 

 reality have little in common. He agrees with Bonaparte, Milne-Edwards, 

 and others in placing the Parrots at the head of the class, he considering 

 them the most perfect of all birds in their organization. He says that 

 from the intellectual point of view their superiority is incontestable : they 

 have all the qualities and all the faults of the monkeys. 



He recognizes subspecies, for which he employs a separate numeration 

 from that of the species. The present volume includes his orders Psittaci, 

 Scansores, Anisodactylse, Macrochires, and Passeres, in the sequence 

 named, of which he recognizes 53 families, 1357 genera, 9417 species, and 

 2477 additional subspecies. Of the "11898" species and subspecies 

 included in his first volume, 4135 are represented in the Royal Museum of 

 Natural History at Bruxelles. He says that he believes that a number of 

 the recently described species and subspecies will be suppressed when 

 they become better known, but he gives them place in order to attract 

 the attention of ornithologists to these doubtful novelties. 



As said in previous notices (Auk, XVII, p. 81, and XVHI, p. 121), the 

 work will be a very useful one, and we trust will be successfully carried 

 to completion. The twelve colored plates illustrate twenty-four previously 

 unfigured or poorly figured species. — J. A. A. 



1 Synopsis Avium | — | Nouveafu | Manuel d'Ornithologie | Par | Alphonse 

 Dubois I Docteur en sciences naturelles, | Conservateur au Musee Royal 

 d'Histoire naturelle de Belgique, | Chevalier de 1' Order de Leopold, | Mem- 

 bre du Comite international et permanent d'Ornithologie, | de la Commission 

 permanente d'etude des collections du Mus6e de 1' Etat Independant du Congo- 



I Membre honoraire, correspondant ou effectif de plusiers Societes savantes. 



I — J Premiere Partie | (1S99-1902) | — | Bruxelles | H. Lamertin, dditeur | 

 20, Rue du Marche-au-bois | — | 1902. — Roy. Svo, pp. i-xvi -j- 1-729, pll. col. 

 i-xii. 



