22 2 Recent Literature. Ta"^ 



Part III is of course uniform with the preceding parts in execution, 

 showing the same painstaking attention to details of citation in the 

 synonymies, and care and thoroughness in elaboration, and is invaluable 

 as an exponent of our present knowledge of the fifteen families of birds 

 embraced within its scope, as represented in North and Middle America. 

 It brings up the total number of families treated to 20, of genera to 216, 

 and of species and subspecies to 1256, and includes more than three 

 fourths of the Oscines of the region. 



Part IV, which is about halt completed, will contain the remaining 

 families of the Oscines and the Tyrannida, Pipridse, and Cotingidaa. 

 We trust the author's present change of scene through a long vacation 

 trip to the mountains of Costa Rica will give him renewed energy and 

 zeal for the completion of this great task, already so well advanced. — 

 J. A. A. 



Richmond on Birds described by Pallas in 1764.-10 1764 appeared a 

 sale catalogue of natural history specimens published by A. Vroeg, to 

 which was added a separately paged supplement in which were described 

 38 species of birds by P. S. Pallas. A transcript of this appendix, by 

 C. Davies Sherborn, has just been republished under the title ' The New 

 Species of Birds in Vroeg's Catalogue, 1764.' ' This ' Catalogue ' is so 

 rare, says Mr. Sherborn, that the only copy he has seen "is preserved 

 among Linnaeus' collection of books in the library of the Linnaean 

 Society of London. The new species of birds," says Mr. Sherborn, 

 " (there are no other new species) are collected at the end of the Cata- 

 logue in a separately-paged ' Adumbratiuncula,' and as these new species 

 are properly diagnosed the Linnaean Society has kindly consented to a 

 reprinting of the pages. The reprint follows the original, line for line, 

 the only addition being the localities, which have been added from the 

 entries in the Catalogue to which the numbers prefixed to each item 

 refer." Mr. Sherborn states that there is no clue to the author of these 

 names, but Dr. C. W. Richmond has found that the author was P. S- Pal- 

 las, and that Linna-us cited some of these names in the twelfth edition of 

 his ' Systema Naturae,' 1766, as from " Pallas, adumbr." etc., and says 

 (/. c, p. 342 inedit.) "without doubt Linnaeus was indebted to Pallas for 

 his copy of the Catalogue.' 1 '' 



Following Mr. Sherborn's reprint of the ' Adumbratiuncula,' Dr. Rich- 

 mond 2 gives the modern equivalents of Pallas's names. He says: "This 

 separately-paged portion of the Catalogue contains descriptions of thirty- 



1 The New Species of Birds in Vroeg's Catalogue, 1764. By C. Davies 

 Sherborn. Smithsonian Miscel. Coll. (Quarterly Issue), Vol. XLVII, p. 332- 

 341, Jan. 31, 1905. 



2 Notes on the Birds described by Pallas in the "Adumbratiuncula" of 

 Vroeg's Catalogue. By Charles W. Richmond. Ibid., pp. 342-347. 



