292 Letters, Announcements, ^c. 



Society of Glasgow. Mr. Alston's last and most important 

 work, which he had fortunately just brought to an end before 

 his untimely deaths was the " Mammals '^ of Salvin and 

 Godman's ' Biologia Centrali- Americana/ The first part of 

 this was published in 1879, the eighth part, containing the 

 completion of the Mammals, in December last. The death of 

 this promising naturalist when in the full tide of work must 

 be a subject of universal regret among all lovers of science. 

 Mr. Alston was elected a member of the British Ornitholo- 

 gists' Union in 1874. 



Etienne Mulsant died on the 4th November 1880, at 

 Lyons, at the advanced age of eighty-four. M. Mulsant's 

 name will be chiefly known by his numerous works and papers 

 on Entomology ; for in this branch of science he was a most 

 industrious worker. In ornithology his attention was almost 

 exclusively given to the study of the Trochilidae. His first 

 work in connexion with these birds was published some forty 

 years ago, when he was associated with the well-known 

 French traveller Delattre in the description of some of the 

 novelties brought home by the latter from Central America 

 and Colombia. He afterwards elaborated a classification of 

 the Trochilidae, based upon the collection of the late Edouard 

 Verreaux. This was preparatory to the commencement of 

 a more serious undertaking — his ' Histoire naturelle des 

 Oiseaux-mouches ou Colibris,^ which he lived to complete in 

 four volumes, illustrated by a good many plates. 



Mulsant was a methodical and painstaking author ; and his 

 final work on the Trochilidae is on the whole a valuable con- 

 tribution to our knowledge of this complicated group of 

 birds. One of its chief features is the way in which the 

 genera are divided and subdivided — in our opinion, far 

 beyond what is either natural or convenient. 



We also regret to have to report the death of Mr. C. E. 

 Lawson, which occurred very suddenly on the 29th De- 

 cember last. Mr. Lawson was elected a member of the 

 British Ornithologists' Union in May 1880. 



