78 THE NIDOLOGIST 
(Publications for review should be sent to Dr. R. W. Suuretpr, 
Associate in Zoologs, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C.] 
PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. 
Parker, T. JEFFERY, D.Sc., F.R.S. On the Cranial 
Osteology, Classification, and Phylogeny of the Dinor- 
nithide, Trans. Zool. Soc., London. Vol. XIII, 
Pt. xi. Oct., 1895. Pls. LVI-LXII. Wwe. in text. 
Pp. 373-428. 4to. [From the author.] 
FuURBRINGER, MAX. 
nat. Ornitho. Congress. 
gel, [From the author. ] 
FurerIncer, Max. Ueber die mit dem Visceralskelet 
verbundenen spinalen Muskeln bet Selachiern. Ab- 
druck aus der Jenaischen Zeitschrift fiir Naturwis- 
senschaft. Bd. XXX. N. F. XXIII. Pp. 127-135. 
[From the author. ] 
Mostus, K. Die @sthetische Betrachtung der Thiere. 
Sitzungsberichte der Kéniglich Preussischen Akad- 
emie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin. XLV. 1895. 
Pp. 1-11. [From the author.] 
Zoilozical Society of London. [Min. of meetings. | 
roth Nov. and 3d Dec., 1895. [From the secretary. | 
PARKER: On the Cranial Osteology, Classification, 
and Phylogeny of the Dinornithide. This is a superb 
piece of work, from one of the most distinguished con- 
tributors to scientific Ornithology now living. Cover- 
ing, as it does, over fifty quarto pages, it is gotten 
out in the usual sumptuous style of the T. Z. S. publi- 
cations, and the figures on the plates stand among 
the finest for fossil birds that the present writer knows 
anything about. The skulls were photographed by J. 
Thompson and lithographed by M. P. Parker (a 
brother of the author), and finally printed by West 
Newman. The outlined skulls were drawn by Pro- 
fessor Parker, and chromo-lithographed by his brother 
also. They areextremely useful, and admirable pieces 
of work. A number of life-size views of the skulls of 
Lmeus are given, as well as those of dnomalopteryx 
adidiformis, Mesopteryx, Pachyornis, with a great many 
outlines of the crania of other Dinornithide. This 
family, last named, includes the ‘“‘Moas” of New 
Zealand, which were great Ostrich-like forms, now all 
extinct. Professor Parker being connected with the 
museum of the University of Otago, at Dunedin, New 
Zeaiand, it has given him especial opportunities to 
enter upon the labors that he has now brought to so 
successful a termination. Sir Richard Owendid some 
grand work upon the osteology of the Dizornithide, 
but he by no means exhausted the subject; nor was 
this accomplished by the appearance of the recent 
volumes of Lydekker and Hutton. Indeed, these 
three authorities left much of our dinornithine litera- 
ture in a state of dire confusion. The nature of this 
confusion is fully set forth by the author of the pres- 
ent monograph, following which he prints, 27 exfenso, 
the magnificent list of material he has been permitted 
to study at his leisure. This illustrates the genera 
Dinornis, Pachyornis, Mesopteryx, Anomalopteryx, and 
Lmeus. The third section of the work is given over 
to a complete account of the comparative anatomy of 
the skull of the Dinornithide ; and section four to ‘‘A 
Comparison of the Skulls of the Dinornithide with 
those of the other Ratite.” An excellent section (5) 
Rep. Com. fiir den. W1-ten Inter- 
3. Sect. Anatomie der Vo- 
is devoted to the ‘‘ Measurements of the Skulls of the 
Ratite;’’ and another (6) to a ‘‘Summary of the 
Cranial Characters of the Ratite.” This latter is ac- 
companied by exhaustive tables on the subject, being 
far ahead, in that direction, of anything done yet with 
Apteryx, Dromeus, Casuarius, Struthio,and Rhea. In 
the section devoted to ‘‘ The Classification of the Di- 
nornithide,’’ the several classifications of Reichen- 
bach (1850), Von Haast (1873), Lydekker (1891), Hut- 
ton (1891), and Parker (1892), are clearly set forth ina 
tabulated form. A study of this monograph up to this 
point is surely a lesson for. any thinking Ornithologist 
we may have among us, and I only wish I commanded 
the space here to dwell upon it. 
By arranging the groups as nearly as possible 
according to their affinities as determined. by cranial 
characters, Professor Parker proposes the following 
scheme: 
Family. DINORNITHID. 
Subfamily a. DINORNITHINA. 
Genus 1. Dinornis. 
Subfamily 4. ANOMALOPTERYGINA. 
Genus 2. Pachyornis. 
«3. Mesopteryx. 
«4. Anomalopteryx. 
Subfamily c. EMEIN«@. 
Genus 6. Emeus. 
Then attacking next, in an equally masterly man- 
ner, and by similar methods, the subfamilies and gen- 
era of the Dinornithide (Sect. 8), he is prepared to 
present ‘The Phylogeny of the Ratite’’ as a whole 
(Sect. 9). This last part is illustrated by phylogenetic 
diagrams, after the fashion of Firbringer. In con- 
clusion, Professor Parker classifies the subclass RA- 
TIT by primarily dividing it into the three New- 
tonian Orders, to wit, the STRUTHIONES, the RHE, 
and the MrecistaNnes. The first of these contains the 
Family Struthionide, created for the single genus 
Struthio ; the second, the Family Rheide, with the 
genus Rea, while the third and last order is divided 
into two suborders, namely, CASUARIFORMES and Ap- 
TERYGIFORMES, as was done by Fiirbringer. The first 
of these has two families, Casuariidze (with the genus 
Casuarius) and Dromeide (with the genus Dromeus). 
The second suborder has also two families, namely, 
the Dinornithidz (the classification of which is already 
given above) and the Family Apterygidz, containing 
the single genus Apteryx. A list of works referred to 
(twenty-eight in number) completes this luminous con- 
tribution to our knowledge of that highly important 
group of living and extinct birds—the Ostriches and 
their allies. R. W. S. 
FUBBRINGER: Anatomy of Birds (Address before the 
second International Ornithological Congress). Space 
will by no means admit of my reviewing here, as it 
amply deserves to be reviewed, this splendid effort on 
the part of one of the greatest workers in Ornithology 
the science has ever known In upward of fifty 
quarto pages, printed in the last refinements of the 
art, Professor Fiirbringer sweeps over the field of 
what has been accomplished in the study of the struc- 
ture of birds. Beginning briefly with the days of the 
dawn of the science at the time of Aristotle, he quickly 
carries the subject down to the period of modern 
laborers, and into those fields where his own pen has 
made such far-reaching and brilliant achievements. 
Once there, his generous hand omits no name that 
has added anything worthy of especial mention to 
Ornithological science, representing whatsoever coun- 
try they may. With similar pride and enthusiasm he 
calls attention to the many splendid monographs pub- 
lished both in Europe and America upon Avian On- 
