SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



117 



contributed by flora winstone. 



Catalogue of a Collection of Birds 

 obtained by the expedition into somaliland. 

 (Chicago, 1S97.) This is No. 2 of the Ornitholo- 

 gical Series of the publications of the Field Col- 

 umbian Museum. D. G. Elliott, F.R.S.E., gives 

 the descriptions of the new species which were 

 obtained by himself and party while going through 

 Somaliland into Ogaden. The chief object of the 

 expedition was to procure specimens of the 

 mammals inhabiting the country, therefore very 

 little attention was paid to the birds. In this 

 catalogue Mr. Elliott has followed the arrangement 

 adopted by Dr. Sharpe in his lists of the birds 

 obtained by Dr. Donaldson Smith in his journey 

 to Lake Rudolph. Three new species belonging to 

 the Family Alandidae are described, one of 

 Sylviidae. one of Turdidae and one of Falconidae. 



La Feuille des Jeunes Naturalistes. (Paris, 

 August, 1S97.) M. E. Simon continues his series 

 of articles on the "Revision of the Genera of 

 Trochilides," and is still dealing with the true 

 humming-birds. Dr. L. Geneau de Lamarliere 

 commences a series of " Synoptic Tables of the 

 Family of Helvellacea," illustrated with two plates 

 containing thirteen figures. Some " Notes upon 

 some Shells of Cerithiidae from the Eocene 

 Stratum of Paris," by M. L. Vignal, will be 

 continued in the next number, which will also 

 contain plates of the species described. The family 

 of Cerithiidae is one of the most numerous of fossil 

 mollusca. It is represented in the basin of Paris 

 by more than 260 species. M. H. Christ contri- 

 butes a short article " On the Researches in 

 Botanical Geography." His remarks are founded 

 on M. G. de Lamarliere's request, mentioned in a 

 us number, that local botanists would observe 

 and note with care the geographical limits of certain 

 plants. Those proposed to be especially noted are 

 '.' onopodium dtnudalum , U'ahhnbergia 

 hidnana, Lifaris locscllii and Malaxis aludosa. 



Termkszetrajzi FOzetek. (Budapest, June, 



1897.) In this number, which contains five most 



beautifully coloured plates, illustrating various 



Professor L. de Mehelij contributes 



some notes on " Further Contributions to the 



Guinea." They are an 



• of seventeen spcci< of l-urachia and 



1 sent to the Hungarian National Museum 



in January laM 1/ - ,. with other material 



he had found during his expl' 



Guinea Thcv: specimens are from the ciast 



and small islands betwe and 



' • ' . ninea 



Tbey incln'i itherto 



n to scien-e. and form a valuable addition 



<nown ref/ p 



plate illustrating this article whir.': '-.^nri- , 



I Batracbla, Sftnophrym birbi 



and llylllla 



.Ion and Singapore i. by It '. 

 Mayr He -1 by I >r fuliua 



V. Madrasz in Ceylon and M. Ludwig Biro in both 

 Ceylon and Singapore, and given by them to 

 the National Museum of Hungary. The new 

 species are Ooceraea coeca, Ponera ceylonensis, Anochetus 

 madaraszi, A.longifossatus, Cremastogaster binU, and 

 Tetramorium cmvispinosum. Dr. Ludvico Biro gives 

 an account of three species of Coleoptera new to 

 the fauna of Hungary, found by himself, they are 

 Drimeotus chyzeri, D. entzii, D. horvathi. 



Contribution II. to the Coastal and Plain 

 Flora of Yucatan. (Chicago.)— This publication, 

 No. 3 of the Botanical Series, is by Dr. Charles 

 Frederick Millspaugh, Curator of the Department 

 of Botany. The part of Yucatan considered in 

 these contributions is peculiar in its biologic 

 characters, differing especially in its flora from the 

 surrounding country. In the immediate neighbour- 

 hood the wealth of vegetation is very marked, 

 while here the plants have to struggle against 

 continual drought, producing a very desiccated 

 appearance. The principal collections represented 

 in this catalogue were made in 1S95, the dryest period 

 known on the peninsula for over half a century, as 

 there were only three months of partial rain. The 

 basis of the collections is one made by Dr. Gaumer, 

 consisting of about 600 specimens collected chiefly 

 from the neighbourhood of Izmal in the interior, 

 and at the town and port of Silam on the northern 

 coast. The catalogue also includes about a hundred 

 medicinal plants, sent for indentification by Pro- 

 fessor H. H. Rusby, of New York, having been 

 collected by one of his pharmaceutical students 

 named Sr. Porfirio Valdez, of Merida ; a collection 

 made by the author at Progreso, Merida, and 

 Tikul in 1SS7 ; also a few plants of the Allison 

 V. Armour Expedition of 1S95. The catalogue 

 has a useful index, including one of local Maya 

 names, and is most beautilully illustrated with 

 thirteen plates and an outline map of Yucatan. 



Portland Society of Natural History. 

 (Maine, U.S.A. Vol. ii., part 4.) Mr. Arthur 

 H. Norton has a paper on the " Sharp-tailed Spar- 

 rows of Maine" in this number of the Society's 

 " Proceedings." There are, accordingto the author, 

 at least two forms of sharp tailed sparrows worthy 

 of specific rank in the State of Maine. The so- 

 called var. nelsoni of Ammodramm caudacutus appears 

 to have some characters which not only separate it 

 from the common sharptail (or more correctly, Lady 

 Blackburn's finch), but enable it to have its own 

 sub-species in the var. subvirginatus. These birds 

 are migrants in Maine, wintering some distance 

 south, even as far as the countries surrounding the 

 Gulf of Mexico. Mr. Norton differentiates these 

 species and varieties of sharptails. In the same 

 number of the " Proceedings" Mr. Norton men- 

 tions two horned owls new to the fauna of Maine 

 and other birds new to the Portland list. Mr. Frank 

 S. Norton read a paper, which is printed in this 

 number, on the " Foraminifera of the Marine Clays 

 ■ 1 Maine," which is illustrated by a plate with a 

 iple ol dozen drawings. Most of the material 

 from which this pap 1 i compiled was gathered by 

 the late Charles B. Fuller, at Munjoy Hill, eighty- 

 seven feet above high-water mari<. The clay 

 1 ■ ! proved rich' in Fi iramlnifera, ( )stra- 

 1 '• '• '" mil roscopii fossils The author 

 refer:, to forty d e pecii . t' entj three ol which 

 are in: u re. I. fn this number appears also a " Second 

 Supplement to the Portland Catalogue "I Maine 



Planti . '.lie b indii ati ■ & th il , among the 



. itanl .1 



