Recerii/ij published Ornithological Works. 5G5 



of Canterbury, New Zealand. They are identified as belonging 

 to Aiteryx australis and several species of Dinornis. The 

 formation in which they are found, although covered by a 

 lava-fiow^ is considered to be of " new Pliocene or even 

 Pleistocene age.'^ 



103. Gadow on the Anatomy of Opisthocomus. 



[Crop and Sternum of Opisthocomus cristatus : a contribution to the 

 question of the correlation of organs and the inheritance of acquired 

 characters. By Plans Gadow. Proc. Hoy. Irish Acad. ser. S, vol. ii. 

 p. 147.] 



Dr. Gadow describes and figures the peculiar crop and 

 stomach of the Hoatzin, Opisthocomus cristatus, and preaches 

 us an excellent sermon with this extraordinary Neotropical 

 monotype for Ids text. This, he tells us, is an instance in 

 which " an obviously primary modification, itself referable to 

 mechanical strain during the life of the adult, seems to have 

 caused other organic changes, which are repeated in the 

 embryo at a time before such a strain could come into play.'"* 

 Similar cases have been previously recorded by the same 

 writer (Zool. Jahrb. Abth. f. Syst. v. p. 629). It is, indeed, 

 sufficiently manifest tliat the enormous crop of the Hoatziu 

 has produced the depression of the furcula, its partial fusion 

 with the sternum, and the distortion of the anterior margin 

 of the carina which are characteristic of this curious form. 

 In nestlings of a week old all these peculiarities are already 

 present. Similar conditions prevail in embryos of the last 

 week before hatching, and even in younger embryos their 

 commencement is plainly apparent. We have here, therefore 

 [pace Weissman), a clear case of the inheritance of acquired 

 characters. 



104. Godman and Salvin's 'Biologia Centr all- Americana.' 



[Biologia Centruli-Americana ; or, Contributions to the Knowledge of 

 the Fauna and Flora of Mexico and Central America. Edited by F. 

 DuCane Godman and Osbert Salvin. (Zoology.) Piu-t CII. 4to. 

 London : 1892. Published for the Editors by K. II. Porter, IS Princes 

 Street, Cavendish Square, AV.] 



