VoL 1919 XVI ] Richmond, "Oiseaux d'Afrique." 547 



Forster, already the translator into German of one of Levaillant's 

 voyages to Africa. The Halle edition is very rare, and for nearly 

 a century has remained almost unnoticed by ornithologists, though 

 one or more of the new names given by Forster were cited in one 

 of F. Boie's papers in Oken's Isis about 1820-26. It was omitted 

 in Engelmann's Bibliotheca Hist. Nat. of 1846, but is mentioned, 

 apparently at second hand, in the continuation by Cams and 

 Engelmann, where the date is given as 1798. Suckow, in 1800, 

 also quotes it as 1798, but his reference to it suggests that the work 

 was autoptically unknown to him, since he mentions none of the 

 new names introduced by Forster. Sherborn was unable to find 

 a copy when compiling his 'Index Animalium,' though it is duly 

 listed among his "libri desiderati." Thus the case remained 

 until 1905, when the writer had the good fortune to obtain a copy 

 from a dealer in Leipzig. This copy has an engraved title page, 

 in script style, running as follows: F. le Vaillant's | Naturgeschichte 

 | der | Africanischen Vogel | mit Anmerkungen | von | D. Johann 

 Reinhold Forster. | No. 3 [illustration of the "Undatus"] | Halle | 

 bei Fried. Christoph Dreyssig. | The size is small octavo. There 

 is no printed title page in this copy, and the plates are uncolored. 

 Following the title is a "Nachrichtan dieKaufer" (pp. iii-vi), 

 signed by Dreyssig, and a " Vorrede" (pp. vii-xiv), with a "Nach- 

 schrift" (p. xv), the latter signed by Forster. On the back of 

 page xv is an " Inhalt," giving a list of the 18 plates, with a refer- 

 ence to the pages on which the subjects are treated. The plates 

 are listed in three groups: Nos. 1-8 are " Raub vogel," the species 

 of which are introduced without generic names; Nos. 9-14 are 

 "Geyer," for which the generic name VulPiir is used; Nos. 15-18 

 are "Von den Bussarten," or species of " Falco." Pages 1-64 

 constitute the remainder of the text, with the plates inserted at 

 their proper places. There is no plate 3, as this subject is shown 

 on the engraved title page. 



Recently the writer secured a second copy J through the kind 

 offices of Dr. T. S. Palmer (who obtained it from a Philadelphia 

 book shop), which, upon comparison with the first, proved to 

 be a colored edition (the illustration on the engraved title being 



1 Both copies are now in the library of the U. S. National Museum. 



