108 Notes and News. [£jjj 



Dr. D. G. Elliot has recently returned to New York from a prolonged 

 trip around the world, during which considerable time was spent in India, 

 China, Japan, and Hawaii. Dr. Elliot is engaged in the preparation of a 

 monograph of the Primates, a group of mammals at present in greatest 

 need of thorough revision, and his visit to Europe was for the purpose of 

 studying the material in foreign museums, including especially the types 

 of previous authors. 



Major Edgar A. Mearns, Medical Corps, U. S. Army, who has twice in 

 recent years been detailed to service in the Philippines, has recently been 

 placed on the retired list with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. President 

 Roosevelt having invited him to accompany him on his hunting trip to 

 Africa in April next, Dr. Mearns's field of experience as a naturalist will be 

 further widened by a year's work in the interior of Africa, where he will 

 have the good wishes of all his fellow members of the A. O. U. 



Arrangements have been made for the celebration of the one hundredth 

 anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin by the New York Academy of 

 Sciences on February 12 next at the American Museum of Natural History. 

 The memorial exercises will include the presentation to the Museum of a 

 bust of Darwin, the presentation to be made by Charles F. Cox, President 

 of the Academy, and the acceptance will be by Henry F. Osborn, President 

 of the Museum. Other addresses will be on ' Darwin's work in Botany,' 

 by Professor N. L. Britton; 'Darwin's work in Zoology,' by Professor H. 

 C. Bumpus; 'Darwin's work in Geology,' by Professor J. J. Stevenson. 



A prominent feature of 'Bird-Lore' for the last five years has been the 

 series of colored plates of North American birds. The first series of twenty- 

 four was devoted to the Wood Warblers (Mniotiltidae), and was reissued 

 later, with appropriate text, as 'The Warblers of North America.' The 

 Warbler plates were followed by colored plates of the Thrushes, and these 

 by colored plates of the Flycatchers. The Flycatcher series will be com- 

 pleted in the next issue (Jan.-Feb., 1909) of the magazine, and will be 

 followed by colored plates of the Vireos, to be completed in 1909. It is 

 now announced that the Vireo series will be followed by plates of the 

 Sparrows, which, we are sure, will also meet with a hearty welcome on 

 the part of ' Bird-Lore ' readers, and later serve as the basis of other such 

 admirable monographs as the now well-known ' Warbler Book.' 



The prospectus of a new illustrated monthly magazine, to be known 

 as 'Travel and Exploration,' has recently been issued by Witherby and 

 Company, London. The magazine will be devoted to illustrated articles 

 dealing with travel in all its aspects, of which a prominent feature will be 

 the personal narratives of explorers of wild and little known regions, in- 

 cluding Polar expeditions, both North and South, as well as other out of 

 the way regions. The list of contributors presented includes the names of 

 several widely known explorers. The first number is announced to appear 

 January 1, 1909. 



