6q6 



NATURE 



[April 26, 1900 



in a "black horny riband, bearing at its extremity a 

 spatulate web" (Wallace). Why have the females of 

 Parotia sexpennis no spatulate occipital plumes, and 

 those of the spatulate or bare rachised- tailed Birds of 

 Paradise no rackets, if the character is a non-sexual one ? 

 In the case of the Motmots, may not the narrowing of the 

 web of the tail feathers be due to some physiological, 

 pathological, or other cause, which attracts the bird's 

 notice to the spot, causing it to peck at the feather and 

 eventually bite away its webs ; a habit which might be- 

 come as fixed as the biting of the nails is from parent to 

 children in many families. In the specimens which lived 

 in the Zoological Gardens in London the central tail 

 feathers came in with the webs on and were bitten off by 

 the birds. The spatulate feathers would not arise, or 

 would be lost, probably, if the Motmots left their tails 

 alone. The very varied positions in which these singular 

 plumes appear (altogether only in a few groups of birds), 

 seem to indicate that it is not a question of attrition or 

 excitation on objects with which the feathers come in 

 contact, otherwise the occurrence of similar feathers 

 would be far more common than it is, especially in the 

 families to which the birds sporting such ornaments belong, 

 since their habits, flight, and movements are similar. And 

 if the rush of air through the feathers of the wing of 

 certain pigeons can produce attenuation of their first 

 primary, the same, or at least some, effect ought to be 

 produced by the same cause, not only in many other 

 pigeons, but also in hosts of other birds. 



The final section of the introduction discusses the geo- 

 graphical distribution of the birds of the Celebesian area, 

 and shows that it is inhabited by 393 species, and that 

 fifteen genera and 108 species are peculiar to it. Each 

 species is fully treated of in the systematic part of the 

 work, as to its synonymy and diagnosis, with interesting 

 and often lengthy accounts of its distribution and habits. 

 Of these, seventy-seven are figured in forty-five plates by 

 Herr Geisler, the artist of the Dresden Museum, who has, 

 at the request of the authors, represented " the exact hue 

 of the specimens painted, sometimes at the cost of 

 the artistic effect and clearness of tint seen in the English 

 productions." The work is also embellished by seven 

 maps — two climatological, two topographical, and three 

 devoted to geographical distribution. 



As a result of their laborious investigations, the authors 

 find that 



" one-half of the peculiar' birds of Celebes have their 

 nearest affinities in the Oriental Region, and one-fifth 

 only in the Australian Region ; but the Australian forms 

 seem to be, on the average, rather more strongly differen- 

 tiated than the Oriental forms. . . . The origin of the 

 Celebesian avi-fauna is principally an Asiatic one, but 

 Celebes, as a whole or as a group of islands, was separated 

 early from the Continent, or never was intimately con- 

 nected with it. . . . The special faunas of Celebes, how- 

 ever, . . . are far from worked out. . . . The future, 

 therefore, only can decide whether the ornithological 

 facts as at present known teach us correctly that Celebes 

 belongs to the Oriental Region and not to the 

 Australian . . ." 



The authors are to be congratulated upon the pro- 

 duction of one of the best and most exhaustive ornitho- 

 logical monographs of a special region that have for a 

 long time appeared either in England or on the Continent. 

 NO. I 59 1, VOL, 61] 



PUMPING IN MINES. 

 Mine Drainage; being a Complete Practical Treatise on 

 Direct-Acting Underground Steam Pumping Machin- 

 ery. By Stephen Michell. Second edition. Pp. xviii 

 -f369. (London : Crosby Lockwood and Son, 1899.) 

 A S a somewhat heterogeneous collection of statistics, 

 ■^ *■ drawings and descriptions of pumping machinery, 

 the work before us probably stands unrivalled in our own 

 or any other language. It is profusely illustrated by 

 means of excellent phototypes and woodcuts of pumping 

 engines, as well as the details of their valves and valve 

 gear, and contains minute verbal descriptions of their 

 construction and mode of action. According to the author, 

 most of the drawings have been supplied by the engine- 

 makers, a fact with which no fault can be found, since 

 there is no better source from which illustrations for a 

 work like this can be obtained. But when we come to a 

 consideration of the verbal descriptions the matter as 

 sumes a different aspect. Except in those cases in which 

 an author feels himself bound to explain the views or 

 original work of another author with precision, so as to 

 avoid the possibility of misconstruction, descriptions 

 quoted verbatim are out of place. In describing appli- 

 ances with which he is, or ought to be, familiar, he should 

 do so in his own words and from his own point of view, 

 and at the same time give the reader the benefit of his 

 opinions and criticism. ^If he quotes page after page 

 from trade catalogues as our author does, not omitting 

 even letters of commendation from customers, he abdi- 

 cates his claim to the position of an author and becomes 

 a simple compiler. 



The work before us partakes far too much of this 

 character, being to a large extent a compilation of the 

 contents of catalogues ; and as this is a class of informa- 

 tion that is liable to vary with the issue of each new 

 catalogue, and can be always obtained post free, it is a 

 pity to swell the bulk of a volume by inserting it without 

 measure. 



The first twenty-two pages of the book contain intro- 

 ductory matter, including a few definitions and a history 

 of the W^orthington and other pumps ; then follow four 

 pages filled with the names of pumps and their makers, 

 and thereafter the subject-matter is proceeded with. 

 Hydraulic and electric pumps, together with four and a 

 half pages of " Hydraulic and other memoranda," are. 

 for no apparent reason, relegated to an appendix ; and 

 the volume closes with a good index. 



In linking up the subjects and in venturing to express 

 his own opinions, the author is not always equally happy 

 in his remarks. For instance : — 



" Height is essential to effectiveness in an air-vessel, 

 mere lateral extension of volume adding little to its 

 value " (p. 72) 



"The pump valves act a most important part in the 

 action of the pump. Indeed, their function is a most 

 important one, and they may fitly be described as the 

 ' lungs ' of the pump " (p. 82). 



"A speed of 100 feet per minute is quite sufficient for 

 small steam pumps if an excessive resistance in the ris- 

 ing main is to be avoided " (p. 94). 



Apart from the resistance due to the head, which is 

 the same whether the pump is large or small, a pump 



