498 



NA TURE 



\Oct. II, 1877 



cal products such as potashes, soap, gunpowder, bone-ash, 

 superphosphates, metallic ores, alloys, &c. 



We cannot close this notice of a book which is really a 

 solid contribution to chemical literature without referring 

 to a circumstance which greatly detracts from its value ; 

 indeed, we fear that in many cases it may prevent the re- 

 cognition of its great merit. Dr. Fleischer, like the great 

 apostle whose worthy disciple he is, praises the times 

 which are past ; he is of opinion that our modern system 

 of notation is founded on the most daring hypotheses, and 

 he believes that the distressing complexity which the for- 

 mulae erroneously styled "modern" have produced, and the 

 phraseology which has accompanied them, far outweigh any 

 slight advantage which they have bestowed upon science ; 

 he thinks that such formula;, " even supposing that there 

 is a 'shadow of a reason ' for their existence as Mohr 

 trenchantly remarks, are peculiarly unfitted for analytical 

 chemistry and for mineralogy." tiDipora, O mores ! 

 With such convictions we arc not surprised that Dr. 

 Fleischer should have insisted on the retention of the 

 old formulas, although he has not actually prohibited the 

 introduction of the newer notation in the translation. 

 Mr. Muir has something to say for himself on this point ; 

 we entirely agree with him that the objections raised by 

 the author have been answered times without number. 

 // sai/o muda coi'.scio. We hope therefore that, should 

 a second edition be called for. Dr. Fleischer may be 

 persuaded to put the work more in harmony with the 

 time ; we feel bound to say that had he done so in the 

 outset the appearance of this second edition might have 

 been considerably accelerated. T. 



HARTLAUB'S BIRDS OF MADAGASCAR 

 Die Vogel Jifadagascars iind der benaclibarien Iiiscl- 

 gruppcn. Eiit Bci/mg zi/r Zoologie der dthiopischcn 

 Region. Von G. Hartlaub. Pp. 425, 8vo. (Halle : 

 Druck und Verlag von H. W. Schmidt, 1877.) 



NOTHING can be more conducive to the progress of 

 zoological science in any [country than the issue 

 of handbooks of the different branches of its fauna in a 

 cheap and convenient form. Such publications bring home 

 to a multitude of observers a resume of the facts previously 

 known only to a few, and such as are too often scattered 

 over the pages of periodicals and other works which can 

 only be consulted in an extensive library. Those who are 

 acquainted with the vast advance made towards our 

 knowledge of the Birds of India since the issue of Dr. 

 Jerdon's Handbook will readily admit the truth of what 

 we say and many other examples might be adduced of the 

 beneficial effects of similar pubUcations. 



Dr. Hartlaub's " Birds of Madagascar," although an 

 excellent and original scientific',work, is quite of the" Hand- 

 book " character — that is it gives us a resume of all that is 

 yet known concerning the Avifauna of Madagascar and 

 the appendent islands in a cheap and portable volume — 

 such as may be conveniently carried in the hand of any 

 naturahst visiting those regions. Fifteen years ago Dr. 

 Hartlaub issued a volume of similar character,' but much 

 smaller in dimensions. To understand how great has 

 been the advance lately made in our knowledge of the 



* " Ornithologibcher Beitrag zuf Fauna Madagascars. . Mit Eerucksich- 

 tigiing der Inseln Mayotte, Nossi-Be und St. Marie, 'sowie_der Mascarenen 

 und Seychellen." 8vo. Bremen: i36i. 



birds of these regions, we have only to compare the 

 " Ornithologischer Beitrag" of i86i with the "Vogel 

 Madagascars" of 1S77. Since the publication of the 

 former work Holland has sent forth Pollen and Van 

 Dam, France Grandidier, and England Crossley and 

 Newton, into that rich and still imperfectly explored field, 

 from which every one of them has reaped an abundant 

 harvest. 



The " Lemurian Avifauna," ' according to Dr. Hart- 

 laub, is now known to contain 284 species of birds. 

 Of these 220 are found in Madagascar itself, and 104 out of 

 these 220 are absolutely restricted to that island. Moreover, 

 of these 104 birds not less than ninety are so abnormal 

 in structure that it has been found necessary to refer them 

 to peculiar genera. Compared with Madagascar itself 

 the appendent island groups are poor in species, although 

 in every case there are many interesting forms amongst 

 their winged inhabitants. The Comoro Islands muster only 

 some forty-four species ^ of birds, Mauritius about sixty, of 

 which fifteen or sixteen have been introduced by man's 

 agency, and Bourbon about the same number, while 

 Rodriguez appears to have only about twenty-five species 

 now existing in it, of which four or five are certainly 

 recent introductions. But we cannot speak of the recent 

 ornithology of these islands without a passing allusion to 

 the singular forms — now mostly known to us by their 

 fossil remains— which have become but very recently 

 extinct, and the gradual rediscovery of which must ever 

 rank among the most interesting scientific achievements 

 of the present epoch. Besides the Dodo of Mauritius 

 and its brother, the Pezopliaps, of Rodriguez, we now 

 know that divers curious parrots {^Necropsittacus and 

 Lophopsittacus) and extraordinary rails {Miserytlirus and 

 Aphanopteryx) lived in those islands not long ago, and 

 that other strange fowls were found in the same company. 

 Two of the remarkable forms of the Mascarene Islands 

 [Coraeopsis masearina and Fregilupus -varius) have 

 indeed become exterminated so recently that examples of 

 their skins are still to be found in some of our older 

 museums. 



Let us now see what Dr. Hartlaub's conclusions as to 

 the general facies of the avifauna of Madagascar and its 

 appendent islands point to. 



" Many years ago," he tells us, " the late distinguished 

 naturalist, Isidore Geoffrey St. Hilaire, remarked that, if 

 one had to classify the island of ]\Iadagascar exclusively 

 on zoological considerations, and without reference to its 

 geographical situation, it could be shown to be neither 

 Asiatic nor African, but quite different from either, and 

 almost a fourth continent. And this fourth continent 

 could be further proved to be, as regards its fauna, much 

 more difterent from Africa, which lies so near to it, than 

 from India, which is so far away. With these words, the 

 correctness and pregnancy of which later investigations 

 tend to bring into their full light, the French naturalist 

 first stated the interesting problem for the solution of 

 which an hypothesis based on scientific knowledge has 

 recently been propounded. 



" For this fourth continent of Isidore Geoffrey is Sclater's 

 ' Lemuria ' — that sunken land which, containing parts 

 of Africa, must have extended far eastwards over 



I Madagascar an<l its islands were proposed to be called Lemuria, in 1864, 

 by Sclater, as being supposed remnants of the old" Terra Lemurum," where- 

 in this peculiar form of mammalian life liad its origin. The name has been 

 adopted by Haeckel and other writers on Distribution. 



^ Since Dr. Hartlaub's work was published, an important addition has 

 been made to the Avifauna of the Comoros by Mr. Edward Newton, in his 

 memoir of the birds of the Island of Anjuian, (P.Z.S. 1877, p 295 et. seqq.) 



