August 10, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



225 



lem undecided, and considers it, in the absence 

 of geological evidence, a ' waste of time to 

 speculate on it with the help of an up-and- 

 down system for the islands and continents, 

 just as required.' The local distribution of 

 the Celebesian birds is presented in great de- 

 tail by means of a series of tables, etc. Among 

 the novelties of the work is an attempt to esti- 

 mate the ' value of the aflBnities of the peculiar 

 species of Celebes' ; in other words, it is recog- 

 nized that the various genera and species are 

 not units of equal value in computing the re- 

 lationship of the Celebesian avifauna to that 

 of other neighboring countries. The conclu- 

 sion reached is that the avifauna of Celebes 

 "has far stronger connections with the Philip- 

 pines than with any of the other neighboring 

 lands, and that the relation of its birds with 

 the Oriental Region is more than twice as 

 strong as with the Australian Region." 



The systematic part includes 393 species, and 

 probably about 150 additional subspecies, all 

 treated with the detail, as regards their bibliog- 

 raphy, plumage, distribution, life-history, and 

 afl&nities, that would be expected in a special 

 faunal work of the magnitude and sumptuous 

 character of the present admirable monograph. 

 Dr. Meyer, the senior author, in addition to 

 his high standing as an ornithologist, has the 

 advantage of knowing personally the region to 

 which the present work relates, he having spent 

 three years (1870-73) in Celebes and neighboring 

 islands, collecting much of the material (about 

 4000 specimens, now in the Dresden Museum) on 

 which the ' Birds of Celebes ' is ba^ed. He thus 

 had an an opportunity of becoming familiar 

 through actual field work with the geographical 

 and climatic characteristics of the East Indian 

 Archipelago. The numerous colored plates of 

 previously unfigured species are well executed 

 and form a fitting accompaniment to a work of 

 high general excellence, and, moreover, a work 

 which closes an important gap in ornithological 

 literature. 



J. A. Allen. 



A Monograph of Christmas Island. London, 

 British Museum (Nat. History). 1900. Pp. 

 xvi + 337. 8vo. 22 plates, map and cuts. 

 Christmas Island is a small body of land com- 



prising about 43 square miles, situated in about 

 latitude 10°, 30' south, nearly 200 miles south- 

 west of the western part of Java, from which 

 it is separated by a depression of the sea floor 

 some 3000 fathoms in depth. Though known to 

 navigators since the middle of the seventeenth 

 century, it has remained uninhabited until very 

 recently, having been explored by Captain Pel- 

 ham Aldrich R. N., in 1887, and annexed to 

 the British crown in 1888. 



It seemed highly desirable that this virgin 

 island should be carefully examined and de- 

 scribed by a competent naturalist and geologist 

 before being opened up by Europeans for agri- 

 cultural and commercial purposes. Accord- 

 ingly it was arranged with the Trustees of the 

 British Museum that Mr. C. W. Andrews, of 

 the (Geological Department, should be granted 

 leave to carry out this exploration, the expenses 

 of which were defrayed by Sir John Murray. 

 Mr. Andrews spent ten months of 1897-98 upon 

 the island and carried out the work with great 

 success. The reports upon the geology and 

 physical conditions of the island in this volume 

 are fi-om his pen, while the various subdivisions 

 of the fauna and flora have been treated by 

 a body of experts to whose descriptions Mr. 

 Andrews has added many notes taken on the 

 spot. The result forms perhaps the most elabor- 

 ate account of an oceanic island ever published. 

 Sir John Murray, who is interested in the com- 

 pany which has obtained a lease of the island 

 for the purpose of developing its agriculture 

 and deposits of phosphate of lime, intends to 

 watch carefully the effects produced by the 

 immigration of civilized man upon the fauna 

 and flora, and record comparisons in the future 

 for which the present volume will serve as a 

 basis. 



The island is of a roughly triangular form 

 with projecting headlands and deep water for 

 the most part close up to the cliff's or the nar- 

 row fringing reef which encircles most of the 

 shore. It is in fact the flattish summit of a 

 submarine mountain more than 15,000 feet high 

 which rises some 1200 feet above the sea. The 

 submarine slopes are about two in five, a depth 

 of 6600 feet occurs in less than three miles from 

 the shore and the foot of the mountain within 

 twenty miles. The geological structure in brief, 



