Obituary. 341 



Such, then, are the essential features of the syrinx ^n 

 these three species. A comparison hetween them shews that 

 in this matter the Woodcock is the least specialized, and, 

 having regard to its restricted vocal povrers, this degeneration 

 is not a matter for surprise. The differences which obtain 

 between the syrinx of the Jack Snipe and of the Common 

 Snipe are at first rather surprising, but it must be remembered 

 that they are correlated with a difference in the form of the 

 posterior border of the sternum, which is double-notched, 

 while in all the other Snipes so far examined this margin 

 has but a single pair of notches. But the differences revealed 

 by a comparison of the pterylography, of the convolutions 

 of the intestines, and of the myology are negligible. 



From the evidence so far available, we must regard tlie 

 Jack Snipe as entitled to the generic rank accorded it long 

 since. The clo-e resemblance which obtains between the 

 coloration of the Jack Snipe and the Common Snipe and its 

 congeners we must regard as due to parallelism and iiot to 

 convergence, for there can be no doubt that ail are derived 

 from a common ancestral stock. 



y^Nlll.— Obituartj. 



Eugene William Gates. 



It is with great regret that we have to announce the death, 

 on November 16, 1911, at the age of 68, of our fellow- 

 meraber Mr. Eugene William Gates, F.Z.S., who joined 

 the Union in 1882. He was born at Girgenti, Sicily, on the 

 31st of December, 1815, and was educated partly at the 

 Sydney College, Bath, and partly by tutors. In 1867 he 

 passed, by competitive examination, into the Public Works 

 Department of the Government of India, and was posted to 

 Burma, where he soon commenced to investigate the orni- 

 thology of the Province, and wrote an article on the Birds 

 of Pegu for the volume of ' Stray Feathers,' published in 

 1882. In 1881 he returned to England, on two years' 



