178 Correspondence. [isf'jan. 



the want of an adequate colour nomenclature, and I therefore 

 feel qualified to know the exact requirements of the case, to 

 meet which and produce a work indis[)ensable to all naturalists, 

 and many others besides, no labour nor expense has been 

 spared. 



The new work will present about 1,350 colour samples, 

 arranged after a scientific system, no two of them so nearly 

 alike that the normal eye cannot easily discern the difference. 

 These are named as far as practicable ; but, it being obviously 

 impossible to name all of so large a number, an exceedingly 

 simple system of numerals and symbols has been devised, 

 enabling the user to very easily and quickly designate not only 

 any colour actually shown, but also the intermediates, both as 

 to hue and tone. The very large proportion of dull or " broken " 

 colours — the various-coloured browns, greys, &c • — are a con- 

 spicuous feature. The size of the book will be about 53^ x 8j^ 

 inches, and the price about $5 net. — Very truly yours, 



ROBERT RIDGWAY. 



Washington, D.C., nth September, 1909. 



Death of Dr. Richard Bowdler Sharpe. 



Members of the A.O.U. will much regret to learn of the death 

 of a distinguished ornithologist and one of its honorary 

 members — Dr, R. Bowdler Sharpe, F.R.S. A full account of 

 his ornithological career, together with a portrait, will appear in 

 the next issue of The Emu. Dr. Sharpe took a keen interest 

 in the affairs of the A.O.U., as is evinced by a recent letter 

 received by one of the editors of TJie Emu from the deceased 

 ornithologist : — 



" I shall be very grateful to you if you will send me part 4 of vol. vii. of 

 TJic Emu. 1 have never received it, and it seems to have miscarried. To 

 be without a part of T]ic Emii.^ and to have my set incomplete, is a thing too 

 dreadful to contemplate. 



" I have lately been going through the whole of Tlie Emu with Dr. 

 Godman, picking up the threads, and seeing whether anything has been 

 left out in his ' Monograph.' Will you allow me the following criticisms 

 which occur to me ? 



" Taking it as a whole, and considering that it is a new venture, I find 

 The Emu wonderfully well managed and edited- -a most creditable achieve- 

 ment for the ornithologists who have piloted it to success. 



" I think some of the titles are a little spun out. For instance {E/nu vii., 

 p. 142), Legge's paper, ' Some Notes on the Location of Birds,' &c., &c , 

 could be simply ' On Birds of Homesteads, Tasmania,' leaving the reader 

 to see in the text that Homesteads was in the Break-o'-Day district.* 



"This criticism does not go for much, but some of the titles are a little 

 long. 



* Dr. Sharpe appears to have been under a misapprehension that, in Colonel 

 Legge's article, " Homesteads " was the name of a place. —Eds. 



