IDS Miscellaneous. 



British Museum — the Hume, Tweeddale, and other representative 

 series — were undreamt of. 



In this instalment, which contains a great part of the Acromyo- 

 dian Passeres, the arrangement of the families is new and to some 

 extent hased upon the plumage of the young hirds, a character of 

 unquestionable value as evidence of relationship. Mr. Oates begins 

 with the Corvidse, which he divides into three subfamilies — Corvinre, 

 Parinae (Tits), and Paradoxornithinse ; and the position of the 

 second will come as a shock to a good many old-fashioned syste- 

 matists. While we think of it we may note, for correction in the 

 errata, a slip of the pen on p. 16, line 19, where "eastwards" 

 should be " westwards." Wisely, as we think, Mr. Oates has 

 retained the Jackdaw in the genus Corvus, and has not placed it 

 under Colosus ; but, having done this, it seems inconsistent to put 

 the Bed-billed and the Yellow-billed Choughs each in a different 

 genus, solely on account of the shape of their beaks. In the Para- 

 doxornithinse he makes a new genus, Scceorhynchus (p. 68). The 

 next family — Crateropodidae — contains llhopocichla (p. 159), Sitti- 

 parus (p. 171), Idoparus (p. 171), Hilarocichla (p. 243), AlophoLvus 

 (p. 259), and Xanthiscus (p. 274), gg. nn. ; while we gather that 

 Griniger burmanicus and Molpiastes humii are here distinguished 

 specifically for the first time, though no " sp. n." is inserted to catch 

 the eye of the Recorder of Aves. In the Dicruridae Dissemurulus, 

 in the Certhiidoe Elachura, are gg. nn. ; Regulus is raised to the 

 rank of a family ; the Sylviidae, Laniidse, Oriolidae, Eulabetidae, and 

 Sturnidse follow, and in the last there is a new genus, Agropsar. 

 Woodcuts of the typical species or of their heads and feet add to 

 the value of this carefully-written volume, which will for a long 

 time hold its place as the standard work on Indian ornithology. 



We would suggest that in the succeeding volumes a little more 

 system with regard to proper names is desirable. As a rule, when 

 we find simply Blyth, Jerdon, Anderson, or Stolickza, we understand 

 that those naturalists are dead ; but here, although Col. Godwin- 

 Austen, Dr. Scully, Messrs. Hume, Blanford, Davison, and many 

 others are happily still among us, their names seldom, if ever, have 

 a prefix. In fact Col. Lloyd, Dr. Stewart (dead, we believe), Mr. 

 Gammie, and Mr. Bligh are among the few thus distinguished ; and, 

 remembering the wrath -appeasing reply of the subaltern to Lord 

 Gough — " Sir, we never say General Alexander or General Caesar " 

 — this exceptional and distant politeness seems somewhat invidious. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Mimicry of the Environment in Pterophryne histrio. 

 By Mr. J. E. Ives. 



The author stated that his attention had been drawn to the 

 remarkable resemblance of the colour-markings of the Erog-fish to 

 the Sargassum weed in which it lives. This fish is a member of the 



