48 General Notes. [ January, 
On the arrangement of the leaflets in ferns and cycads, by A. Braun. 
(The leaflets in the former have the posterior edge of the one leaf cover- 
ing the anterior edge of the one behind it; the leaflets in cycads are the 
reverse of this. There are said to be a few exceptions in ferns.) Halle: 
On the anatomical structure of the roots of certain Convolvulacee, by 
Schmitz. (This paper is of pharmaceutical interest, being devoted to the 
detection of adulterations in drugs of the order, such as jalap.) A con- 
tribution to the subject of the vitality of seeds, by H. Hoffmann (else- 
where noticed). Some other notices are unavoidably deferred. 
ZOOLOGY. 
Tue EXTINCTION or THE Great AUK AT THE FUNK IsLanpDs. — 
Mr. Michael Carroll, of Bonavista, Newfoundland, has recently given 
me the following very interesting facts respecting the extermination of 
the great auk (Alea impennis) at the Funk Islands. In early life he 
was often a visitor to these islands, and a witness of what he here de- 
scribes. He says these birds were formerly very numerous on the Funk 
Islands, and forty-five to fifty years ago were hunted for their feathers, 
soon after which time they were wholly exterminated. As the auks 
could not fly, the fishermen would surround them in small boats and 
drive them ashore into pounds previously constructed of stones. The 
birds were then easily killed, and their feathers removed by immersing 
the birds in scalding water, which was ready at hand in large kettles set 
for this purpose. The bodies were used as fuel for boiling the water. 
This wholesale slaughter, as may well be supposed, soon exterminated 
these helpless birds, none having been seen there, according to Mr. Car- 
roll, for more than thirty years, and he expresses great doubt in respect 
to the existence of the species now anywhere about the islands of New- 
foundland or Labrador. — J. A. ALLEN. 
Bewrck’s Wren, Thyothorus Bewicki, is something of a rarity, I be- 
lieve, in the Atlantic States, where its movements, and especially its 
breeding resorts, are not very well made out. It may, therefore, be 
worth while to here record the fact that it breeds in considerable num- 
bers in these-same mountains. Isaw two or three individuals during my 
ride up and down the mountains; and, though I found no nests, the 
actions of the birds satisfied me that they were at home for the sum- oe 
mer. — ELLIOTT Cours. 
Ranes or THe Bay Isis. — A letter from Captain C. Bendire, U. 
S. A. to E. Dickinson, Esq., dated Camp Harney, Oregon, says, “I — 
have lately discovered that Ibis Ordi breeds near here. An officer has 
sent me portions of a skin, sufficient for identification, and writes me ; 
that he saw the young birds, besides some forty old ones.” — ELLIOTT : 
Coues. 
EARLY Nesting or tHe ANNA Humminc-Birp.— In the Ornithol- 
ogy of California, i. 359, I stated that the young of Calypte Anna 
