Recently published Ornithological Works. 275 



macleo.yance, sp. n., from the Astrolabe range. South-east 

 New Guinea, allied to H. major, but differing from the latter 

 in length of tail, colour of underparts, and rosy tint of flanks. 

 Mr. A. J. North has three papers on the eggs of birds found 

 in the Australian, Austro-Malayan, and Pacific Regions. 

 Dr. W. A. Haswell gives a paper, with eight plates, on the 

 early stages in the development of the Emu, Dromceus novce- 

 hollandice. 



46, Menzbier on the Osteology of the Penguins. 



[Vergleicliende Osteolo*gie der Penguine in Auwendung zur Hauptein- 

 tlieilimg der Vogel. Von Dr. M. v. Menzbier. Bull. Soc. Imp. d. Nat. 

 Moscou, 1887, no. 3, p. 483.] 



The memoir commences with an account of the osteo- 

 logy of Penguins, followed by a special description of a 

 young Eudyptes chrysocoma. The principal parts of this 

 specimen are illustrated in the plate, which is coloured in the 

 usual way, to indicate the ossified cartilaginous regions. 

 Before discussing the relationship of Penguins to other birds, 

 the author gives a useful summary of all that has been dis- 

 covered with regard to fossil Penguins. Our knowledge, 

 however, is limited to a fairly complete description of a large 

 form Palceeudyptes antarcticus which existed in New Zea- 

 land in late Eocene or early Miocene times. In this Pen- 

 guin the wings were a little longer, and the tarso-metatarsal 

 bones rather more separate than in existing genera. From 

 this the author concludes that we may safely regard the cha- 

 racteristic shortness andscparatenessof the metatarsal bones as 

 an hereditary structure, and not as one that has been brought 

 about recently by adaptation. The views of Huxley, Marsh, 

 and others as to the main subdivisions of Birds are then dis- 

 cussed at length ; it is suggested that, while all birds have been 

 derived from the Dinosauria, their origin is not, in the strict 

 sense of the word, monophylitic, inasmuch as the different 

 groups have probably descended from different genera 

 of Dinosauria. The principal conclusions to which the 

 author has been led are, that Penguins form a group of 

 birds near to extinction, characterized by structural peculi- 



