288 JSfew Species of Bird of the Genus Pitangus. 



an elevated temperature. To be altogether safe from contagion — and we 

 should not be contented with anything short of this — no sewage should 

 be allowed to enter into a water supply. 



VIII. If sewage and other impurities be allowed to go into a water- 

 supply, how much of them and of what kind, are permissible without 

 detriment to health. 



If the ground is taken that these cases of contagion are too rare to be 

 a valid argument against the use of streams which, like the Thames, have 

 been credited with carrying the cholera, etc., and yet under ordinary 

 circumstances may be used without apparent ill effects, it is necessary, 

 notwithstanding, to fix some limit to the degree of contamination. The 

 standard determined upon by the Rivers-Pollution Commission, will an- 

 swer as well perhaps as any other for this purpose. Yet we must still 

 keep in mind that the danger of contaminated water is not limited to 

 contagion and manifest disease. According to eminent medical authori- 

 ties, no particular form of active disease may be traceable to such waters, 

 and at the same time they may bring about an enfeebled or disordered 

 condition of the bodily organs, decreasing the ability to labor, and in- 

 creasing the susceptibility to disease from other causes. From this point 

 of view, a wise regard to the eventual well-being and wealth of the 

 community, would counsel the expediency of accepting no water after 

 pollution, even if conformed to certain artificial standards, and when 

 possible, of not stopping short of securing the purest water obtainable 

 under the circumstances. 



XXVI. — Description of a Xew Sjiecies of Bird of the 

 Genus Pitangus. 



BY GEORGE N. LAWRENCE. 

 Read November 20th, 1876. 



Pitangus Gabbii. 



Crown and sides of the head dull black, with a concealed crest of light 

 gamboge-yellow; the back is of a warm hair-brown color, the feathers 

 barred with narrow rather indistinct lines of darker brown; the upper 

 tail coverts dark-brown, margined with brownish-ferruginous ; the feath- 

 ers of the tail are hair-brown, darker than the back, and are edged with 

 bright ferruginous for half their length from the base, except the two 

 central and the outer ones ; the inner margins of the tail-feathers, near 



