270 Gould's Birds of Australia. 



and fruit by which each tree may be determined, even by one 

 unskilled in botanical lore. From this peculiarity, the volume 

 may be advantageously added to the library of those who may 

 already possess Gilpin, or similar works ; while it strongly 

 recommends it to those who have yet to select a work for their 

 summer companion and friend. 



Art. V. A Synopsis of the Birds of Australia and the adjacent 

 Islands. By John Gould, F.L.S., &c. Part II. 



Nearly half the birds in this and the preceding part of 

 Mr. Gould's Synopsis are new to science ; and, from the 

 number of species, hitherto undescribed, which will be 

 brought forward in the course of this publication, it must 

 constitute one of the most important ornithological works 

 that have appeared in this country. Although the illustra- 

 tions are principally confined to a representation of the head 

 of each species, yet, for practical purposes, this work will be 

 found almost as useful as those which have appeared on a 

 more extensive scale by the same author ; for the plates are 

 executed with such minute fidelity, and the characters ex- 

 hibited by the head alone are, in most instances, so well 

 marked, as to render a figure of the entire bird unnecessary. 



MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



Art. I. Provincial Museums. 



History and Arrangement of the Ashmolean Museum. — In 

 your Magazine for April, 1835, some notice is taken of the 

 improvement of the Ashmolean Museum, in a communication 

 from Mr. Lansdown Guilding, St. Vincent's, dated May 1. 

 1830. I am not aware that any further statement, since 1835, 

 respecting this Institution, has appeared in your valuable 

 Magazine. I therefore beg leave to inform your readers 

 that, through the zeal, liberality, and scientific knowledge of 

 J. S. Duncan, Esq., the late curator, and with the same views 

 and spirit of his brother, the present curator, the Ashmolean 

 Museum is now as well filled, and arranged with as good 

 specimens in every department of zoology, as any other 

 museum in the kingdom. The collection is far inferior, in 

 number of specimens, to those of the British Museum or 

 Zoological Society, and probably of some others ; but its two 

 large rooms are nearly as full as they can conveniently hold, 

 and exhibit, in the different classes, sufficient types of orders 



