
1891.] Recent Literature. gol 
various divisions treating of them. He republishes Coues’s description 
of the cranial nerves as presented in his second edition of the ‘“ Key” 
to North American birds, and states that he is in error when he says - 
that the ‘‘ optic lobes are never covered ” in the avian brain by that 
part of the encephalic mass above them (p. 50). 
In the second section is discussed the ‘‘ Relation of Brain Measure- 
ments to Taxonomy,’’ wherein the classifacatory schemes for birds 
given by Huxley and Parker are contrasted, and a special table treat- 
ing of the taxonomy of the North American Passeres as it has been 
given by Coues, the A, O. U., and by Shufeldt, is also presented. 
Mr. Turner supports the views of Shufeldt with respect to the posi- 
tion in the system of the Corvide, the Icteride, the Fringillide, and 
_the Turdidz, and departs but slightly from him in the other families. 
In giving the Paride a high place, he agrees with Coues, but gives 
Shufeldt due qredit for having long ago pointed out their being a very 
highly organized group of birds. 
Although the present writer has adopted, in one or two instances, 
the exhibition of the affinities of families by means of tabulated serial 
lists, I must say here that upon the whole the scheme is very deceptive 
and often misleading. It is very much like an attempt to show the 
mode of growth and branching of a tree by similar means. It is quite 
out of the question. I consider that we have twenty families in the 
group Passeres in this country, and Mr. Turner has dealt with but sen 
of them. Further investigation may induce him to recast to some 
extent his taxonomical scheme of the North American Passeres, and 
we trust that such studies will soon be forthcoming. 
Space will not admit of my giving Mr. Turner’s valuable recapitu- 
lation of his observations upon the avian brain here, and I must be 
satisfied with this brief notice of a paper that will well repay the care- 
ful reading of all those interested in vertebrate morphology, and in 
the structure and natural classification of birds in particular.—R. W. 
SHUFELDT, August roth, 1891. 

