yune 20, 1889 1 



NATURE 



177 



capped with a spreading crown. The leaves are in fives, 

 as in many of the Mexican pines, and the cones have 

 thick scales, each terminated by a short strong prickle. 

 " In many respects this species of pine stands alone 

 among Californian Conifers. No other species is found 

 within fifty miles of it ; none other survives such 

 buffetings by the sea winds, and no other bears such large 

 flowers, hard nuts, and such strong leaves. ... In the few 

 localities young trees of all ages are found, but always 

 less in number than the older trees, from which it is 

 inferred that the species is slowly succumbing to its en- 

 vironment, and must if not protected soon become extinct." 

 Such a tree, apart from its interesting structure and 

 history, would be a valuable introduction as a sea-coast 

 pine, wherever the climatal conditions are otherwise 

 favourable. 



The Report from which we have taken these particulars 

 is illustrated by photographs, which, if not in all cases 

 very clear, at least show fairly well the general habit of 

 the trees. For details of structure they are not so well 

 suited, and we trust that in future Reports some other means 

 may be taken to give adequate representation of such 

 details. We look forward with eagerness to the continua- 

 tion of the history of the Californian trees, the silver 

 firs, the Douglas firs, and others that yield in no respect 

 to the pines. 



THE EXTINCT STARLING OF REUNION 

 (FREGILUPUS VARIUS). 



'T^IME alone can prove whether we are right in calling 

 -■■ the Fregilupns an extinct species, for many people 

 have imagined that the bird still exists in the interior 

 forests of the Island of Reunion; but as year after year 

 passes by and no specimens are discovered, we fear that 

 we must class the starling of Reunion, along with the 

 Dodo and other birds of the Mascarene Islands, as 

 having been exterminated by the hand of man. 



The earliest mention of the Fregiluptis is believed to 

 be that of Fiacourt, who, in an account of a voyage to 

 Madagascar, speaks of a bird called the " Ti vouch," found 

 in Madagascar, Bourbon, and the Cape, and described as 

 being " black and grey, with a fine crest." The species 

 was for a long time supposed to inhabit the Cape, and 

 Montbeillard calls it the " Huppe noire et blanche du Cap 

 de Bonne Espdrance." Its crested head and curved bill 

 were evidently the cause of the bird being called a 

 Hoopoe, as was done by most of the older writers, until 

 Levaillant in 1806 put it down as a Merops or Bee- eater. 

 The latter author knew of eight specimens at least, two 

 in the Paris Museum, one in the possession of each of the 

 following persons, MM. Gigot Dorey, Mauduit, I'Abbe 

 Aubry, M. Poissotiier, one in the collection of M. Raye, at 

 Amsterdam, and one in Levaillant's'own collection. The 

 fate of most of these specimens is unknown at the present 

 day ; they have doubtless decayed or been destroyed, 

 as the mode of preservation of animals at the beginning 

 of the century was by no means perfect. 



In 1833 a very fine specimen was sent by Mr. Nivoy to 

 the Paris Museum, where we saw it a few days ago, along 

 with a more ancient individual, doubtless one of the two 

 known to Levaillant. The same Museum also possesses 

 two specimens in spirit. The only representative of the 

 genus Fregiltipiis in this country has hitherto been a 

 skeleton in Prof. Newton's possession. This individual 

 was shot in 1833 by the late Jules Verreaux, who gave 

 it to Prof. Newton. We are happy to announce, how- 

 ever, that the Trustees of the British Museum have 

 recently acquired a very fine example of this extinct 

 starling, one too which, curiously enough, was not known 

 to Dr. Hartlaub when he gave in 1877 the list of 

 specimens supposed to exist in Museums. The bird now 

 in the Natural History Museum has been acquired from 



the well-known Riocour collection at Vitry-la-Ville. This 

 famous collection, the work of three generations of the 

 Counts De Riocour, consisted of a series of excellently 

 mounted specimens, forming a choice little Museum 

 which it would be hard to excel. The grandfather of the 

 present Count was the founder of the collection, and was 

 an intimate friend of Vieillot and the old French natu- 

 ralists at the beginning of the century. Nearly all the 

 specimens of that age are named by Vieillot, several of 

 whose types are in the Riocour collection ; and Dr. 

 Giinther has been successful in securing these also for 

 the cabinets of the British Museum. A more interesting 

 link with the past than this collection of the Counts De 

 Riocour can scarcely be imagined, and we are glad to 

 know that in the hands of Mr. Boucard, who is now the 

 owner of the collection, it will receive the kindly con- 

 sideration which such a famous Museum deserves. 



Writing in 1877, Dr. Hartlaub, in his " Vogel vorv 

 Madagascar's," gives a list of the specmiens oi Fregilnpiis 

 known to him, as follows : — Four in the Paris Museun> 

 (two stuffed and two in spirits) ; one in the Caen 

 Museum ; one at Leyden (old and bad) ; one in the 

 Stockholm Museum ; one in the Museum at Florence t 

 one in the Pisa Museum ; one in the Genoa Museum : 

 one in the Turin Museum ; and one in the collection of 

 Baron de Selys-Longchamps. 



Sir Edward Newton likewise knew of two specimens in 

 the Museum at Port Louis in Mauritius, and there is also 

 the skeleton in Prof Newton's possession ; so that, 

 with the one recently added to the British Museum, there 

 are probably sixteen specimens in existence. The Italian 

 Museums received their specimens from the same source, 

 viz. from Prof. Savi at Pisa ; and some of those in other 

 Museums are from the same source. Count Salvadori 

 has published a very interesting article on \.\\e FregilupuSy 

 in which he informs us that Savi received several speci- 

 mens from a Corsican priest named Lombardi, and that 

 these specimens were given away by Savi in the most 

 generous spirit, as he appears to have retained only a 

 single specimen for the Pisa Museum. 



Like other insular forms, the Fregilupns seems to have 

 courted extermination by its very tameness and ignorance 

 of danger. The late Mr. Pollen stated in 1868 that the 

 species had become so rare in Reunion that when he 

 visited the island not one had been heard of for ten years, 

 though it was still believed to survive in the forests of 

 the interior. The old people who remembered when the 

 birds were still common told him that they were so stupid 

 and fearless that they could easily be knocked down with 

 sticks. 



The extinct Necropsar rodertcajtus, Slater, was the 

 representative of Fregiluptis in Rodriguez (cf. Giinther 

 and E. Newton, Phil. Trans., vol. clxviii. p. 427), and its 

 nearest living ally of the Fregilupns is probably Falculia 

 of Madagascar, but there is also considerable affinity to 

 Basileornis o'f Celebes and Ceram. An excellent account 

 of the osteology of the genus was given by Dr. Murie in 

 the Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 1873. 



R. BOWDLER ShARPE. 



A MANSION HOUSE MEETING IN AID OF 

 THE PASTEUR INSTITUTE. 



THE Lord Mayor has fixed July i, at 3 p.m., at the 

 Mansion House, for a public meeting to hear the 

 statements of scientific and medical men with regard to 

 the prevention and cure of hydrophobia. Sir James 

 Paget has promised to address the meeting, and it is ex- 

 pected that Sir Henry Roscoe, Dr. Lauder Brunton, Sir 

 Joseph Lister, Prof Ray Lankester, Sir Joseph Fayrer, 

 Mr. Victor Horsley, Mr. Everett Millais, and others will 

 take part in the proceedings. All scientific men interested 

 in M. Pasteur's discoveries are earnestly requested to 



