XVlll PEOCEEDINGS OF THE 



Society ' contain an immense number of Ornithological papers of 

 great value, to which, however, space wiU not allow us to allude ; but 

 we cannot pass in absolute silence the valuable memoirs, " On the 

 Osteology of the Gallinaceous Birds and Tinamous," by Mr. 

 "W. K. Parker, and on " the Skeleton of the Great Auk or Gar- 

 fowl," by Professor Owen, published in the Transactions of the 

 last-mentioned Society. Our own Transactions have also con- 

 tained an elaborate paper by Mr. A. E. "Wallace, " On the Parrots 

 of the Malayan Eegion," with a discussion of the general geogra- 

 graphical distribution of the Psittacidee in accordance with the 

 spirit of the Darwinian hypothesis. 



The ornithologists of other countries have been no less active 

 than our own ; but we can only notice two or three of the 

 most important of their productions. In the United States, the 

 Smithsonian Institution has commenced the publication of a Re- 

 view, by Dr. S. P. Baird, of the American Birds in its Museum, 

 with critical remarks on many of the species : this will form a 

 valuable aid to the student of the geographical distribution of 

 American birds. Another important North American work is 

 the ' Monograph of the Tetraoninae,' by Mr. D. G. Elliott of New 

 York, in which all the species of that subfamily of birds, so abun- 

 dantly represented in the northern part of the American continent, 

 are not only described, but well figured of the size of life. The 

 natural history of the species is also very well given, and the 

 young states of several of them are figured. Figures of the newly 

 hatched young of many species of other groups are also published 

 by M. Marchand, in Guerin's ' Bevue et Magasin de Zoologie.' 

 Professor Schlegel has continued his admirable ' Bevue critique et 

 methodique du Museum des Pays-Bas,' containing catalogues of 

 the species of various families of birds contained in the fine Mu- 

 seum of Leyden, with valuable remarks upon many of them ; and 

 Dr. Pelzeln, of Vienna, has brought out the ornithological section 

 of the ' Zoology of the Voyage of the Novara.' 



Among the publications on Beptilia, we have again to give the 

 first place to a work produced in this country — namely, Dr. 

 Giinther's ' Eeptiles of British India,' published by the Bay 

 Society. In this splendid work, the author has described the 

 whole of the Beptilian inhabitants of continental India, the num- 

 ber of which, including both true Beptilia and Batrachia, is no 

 less than 526. Besides the descriptions of groups and species, 

 this volume contains notices of the habits of many of the animals, 

 and some remarks on the geographical distribution of the Indian 



