Sept. 2, 1875] 



NA TURE 



in 



" Faune Pontique, " but his original observations are somewhat 

 meagre. Eichwald's "Fauna Caspio-Caucasica " and Mt'ne- 

 tries's Catalogue of the Zoology of the Caucasus, should also be 

 consulted, although both are rather out of date. An excellent 

 zoologist, Hr. Gustav Radde, is now resident at Tiflis ; but I do 

 not think he has yet prepared any general account of the birds 

 of the Caucasus, where there must be certainly much of inte- 

 rest, as is proved by the discovery of the remarkable Grouse, 

 allied to our Black Grouse, which has just been described by 

 M. Taczanowski,* 



(h.) Birds of Germany and Central Europe. —'Loc^ lists of 

 the birds of the various States of Central Europe, and their 

 principal divisions, are very numerous ; and there are also many 

 manuals and memoirs on the same subject. But J. A. Nau- 

 mann's excellent " Viigel Deutschlands," commenced in 1822, 

 with its supplements, is still, I believe, quite unsuperseded 

 as a standard book of reference on Central European Orni- 

 thology. It was generally understood that Prof. Blasius, at the 

 time of his lamented death, had a work on the birds of his 

 native country in preparation ; but unfortunately this was never 

 finished, or it would have proved to be, no doubt, of first-rate 

 excellence. In no other country, however, except our own, is 

 ornithology so much cultivated as in Germany. Two societies 

 emulate each other in their pursuit of this science, and a special 

 journal is devoted to its progress. There is no lack, therefore, 

 of recent information upon the birds of every part of Germany, 

 although this has to be fished out of journals and periodicals of 

 different sorts, instead of being put together, as we should rather 

 wish to see it, in some general work, 



(i.) Birds of Scandinavia and North Europe. — In Scandinavia 

 also there is no dearth of diligent observers of birds as of every 

 other class of animals. The bird-volume of Nihson's Scandi- 

 navian Fauna was published in 1858, and is still worthy 

 of careful study. But the more recent works of Collett upon 

 the Birds of Norway, in German and in English, should 

 be consulted, as also Sundevall's " Svenska Foglama," 

 unfortunately not quite finished at the time of his decease, 

 and Von \Vright and Palmen's "Finland's Foglar." Many 

 memoirs have also recently appeared upon the birds of the ex- 

 treme north, which have always attracted great interest among 

 ornithologists. Amongst these special attention may be called 

 to V. Heuglin's account of the birds of Nova Zembla, first 

 published in Cabanis's Journal for 1872, and afterwards 

 enlarged and revised in the second volume of his " Reisen in 

 dem Nordpolarmeer ; " to Prof. Newton s essay on the birds of 

 Iceland in Mr. Baring-Gould's " Iceland, its Scenes and Sagas ; " 

 and lastly, to Messrs. Alston and Brown's narrative of their 

 adventures among the birds of Archangel — a little explored 

 district, and one of much promise, to which one of these active 

 explorers has returned this year. 



C. European Herpetology. 



In this field of research there is not so much of recent work 

 to record as among the birds ; but Dr. E. Schrieber's "Herpe- 

 tologia Europsea," which has just appeared, marks an im- 

 portant epoch in this branch of science, since there was 

 previously no good work of reference upon the Reptiles and 

 Batrachians of Europe. Dr. Schrieber's work is drawn up upon 

 the same plan as Blasius's well-known " Saugethiere Europas," 

 and forms a most convenient handbook. The list of published 

 works and memoirs on the same subject prefaced to it renders it 

 unnecessary for me to refer to the previous authorities on Euro- 

 pean herpetology in detail. I observe, however, that Lord 

 Clermont's very useful " Guide to the Quadrupeds and Reptiles 

 of Europe " is not referred to in the list, and it would 

 appear that Dr. Schrieber is not acquainted with it. I must 

 also call special attention to Dr. Strauch's excellent memoir on 

 the Serpents of the Russian Empire, recently published in 

 the Memoirs of the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg, which 

 is as important for the European as for the Asiatic part of the 

 Russian dominion. As regards our native I lerpet ©logical Fauna 

 also, I may point out that the last edition of Bell's " British 

 Reptiles," published in 1839, requires considerable revision 

 to bring it up to our present standard of knowledge, and that it 

 is much to be desired that a new edition should be undertaken. 

 Let me venture to suggest that Mr. Van Voorst should com- 

 municate with Dr. Giinther upon this subject. 



D. European Ichthyology. 



I am not aware of the existence of any special work on Euro- 

 pean Ichthyology, but C. Th. v. Siebold published in 1863 a 

 » 7V/>v.-/wA>Xw/Vj-'/V=/", T.-ICZ., P.Z.S., 1S75. 



volume on the Fresh-water Fishes of Central Europe, which 

 forms a useful guide to the Pisci-fauna of the principal 

 European river-basins. For the fishes of the Atlantic wliich 

 viiit the British eoasts we have the third edition of Yarrell's 

 "British Fishes," edited by the late Sir John Richardson, 

 which was published in 1859. Now that Dr. Giinther's great 

 general work on Fishes has been completed, this portion of Mr. 

 Van Voorst's excellent serifs would be also much benefited by 

 revision and rearrangement according to Dr. Giinther's modem 

 system and nomenclature. As a cheaper and more popular work 

 we may also refer to Conch's " British Fishes " in four volumes, 

 in which the figures are coloured. 



Prof. Blanchard issued in 1866 a volume of the Freshwater 

 Fishes of France, which, however, does not bear so high a 

 character as Siebold's work above referred to. P'or our know- 

 ledge of the fishes of Spain and Portugal we are chiefly in- 

 debted to Steindachner's memoirs in the Sitzungsberichte of the 

 Vienna Academy, and to F. de Brito Capello's papers in 

 the Journal of Sciences of Lisbon. Of those of Italy, Prof. 

 Canestrini has lately published a revised list with short specific 

 characters, as a portion of the work called " Italia " already 

 referred to. Those interested in the fishes of the Black Sea 

 and adjoining river-basins should consult the ichthyological 

 portion of Demidoff's " Voyage dans la Russie Mcridionale," 

 entitled "Pisces Faunse Pontics." I am not acquainted with 

 any other important recent memoirs on the ichthyological faunas 

 of the different European States which it is necessary to refer to 

 until we come to Scandinavia, where Malmgren published in 

 1863 an excellent essay upon the Fishes of Finland, which 

 was subsequently translated into German. As regards the 

 fishes of Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla, Heuglin's Synopsis of 

 therri in the second volume of his already quoted " Reisen nach 

 dem Nordpolarmeer " is the most recent authority, though it is 

 principally founded upon the labours of Loven and Thorell, 

 and of the naturalists of the Swedish expeditions of 1861 and 

 1864. 



3. The Siberian Sub-region. 



When I call to mind the numerous scientific expeditions sent 

 by the Russians into different parts of their recent acquisition in 

 Northern Asia, and turn over the pages of the excellent and 

 instructive work in which the results of these expeditions have 

 been given to the world, I must own to a feeling of indignation 

 at the manner in which such matters are usually dealt with by 

 the Government of this country. In the first place, in order to 

 get such an expedition sent out at all, great exertions and special 

 influence is necessary. The Treasury must be memoriahsed, the 

 Chancellor of the Exchequer besougkt, and the Admiralty peti- 

 tioned, before any grant of money can be sanctioned for the 

 purpose, and even then it is too often bestowed in a niggardly 

 and grudging way. When the expedition returns, similar appli- 

 cations have to be made in order to get the results worked out 

 and properly published, and these are in some cases altogether 

 rejected, so that the money already spent upon collecting becomes 

 virtually thrown away. In Russia, although the nation may be 

 less awake to the claims of science than in this country, the Go- 

 vernment is certainly more so ; and it is to the scientific men 

 attached to the Government expeditions that we are indebted for 

 nearly all the knowledge we possess of the fauna of Northern 

 Asia. Of the more important reports of the more recent of 

 these expeditions I will say a few words. 



Middendorff's " Sibirische Reise," published in 1851, gives 

 an account of the fauna of the extreme north and east ot 

 Siberia. The second volume of the zoological portion is entirely 

 devoted to the Mammals, Birds, and Reptiles, and gives full 

 details concerning the structure and habits of the species met 

 with. Of Von Schrenck's " Amur-reise," a volume published in 

 1859, contains a complete memoir on the Mammals and Birds 

 of the newly acquired district traversed by the Amoor, lying 

 to the south of that investigated by Hr. v. Middendorff. Lastly, 

 two volumes of Radde's "Reisen in d«m Sudenv. Ost-Sibiricn," 

 published in 1862 and 1863, render more perfect our know- 

 ledge of the Mammals and Birds of South-eastern Siberia. Hr. 

 Radde's chief observations were made in Transbaikalia, but he 

 incorporates the knowledge accumulated by his predecessors in 

 the surrounding districts, and goes deeply into general results. 



Dr. A. V. Middendorff's " Isepiplesen Russlands" should 

 also be consulted by those who wish to understand the migra- 

 tion of birds in Siberia, or indcod throughout the Russian 

 dominions. 



