430 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. 
Zodlogy in Japan.— The completion of the first volume of the 
Annotationes Zoologica Japonenses enables us to see clearly the present 
direction of zodlogical science in that country. As is to be expected, 
systematic work predominates, and, naturally, the first duty of the 
Japanese to the science lies in’this line. It is interesting, however, 
that marine invertebrates are more the objects of attention than those 
of the land, instead of less, as in European countries. This reveals 
the morphological training of those who are conducting or guiding 
investigations. Embryology is represented by Nishikawa’s study on 
the migration of the eye in a flatfish, Ikeda’s study on the develop- 
ment of Rhacophorus, and Hatta’s on the Pronephros. Cytology is 
represented by Aida on the growth of the ovum in Chetognaths. In 
experimental work we have Yasuda’s studies on accommodation of 
Infusoria to dense solutions. 
- 
The Diagnostic Characters of Birds. — A/rofos of the letter of 
“Zoölogist ” in the March number of the American Naturalist, Mr. 
Frederic A. Lucas calls our attention to a passage in his paper on 
the Ccerebidz.! 
After speaking of the difficulty of determining the affinities of this 
group, he goes on to say: “ Of course our trouble lies in the fact that 
the so-called families of Passeres, at least very many of them, are not 
families at all, or not the equivalents of the families of other groups 
of vertebrates. It is my belief that any group of vertebrates to be of ` 
family rank should be capable of skeletal diagnosis, and this test 
applied to the Passeres reduces them to a family or two, as has been 
done by Huxley and Fiirbinger.” 
In his letter Mr. Lucas says that “ for family one may equally well 
read genus. The groups of birds are nearly all pitched on too high 
a key, the orders being families (to a great extent), families, genera,” 
etc. 
1 F. A. Lucas, Notes on the Anatomy and Affinities of the Ccerebidz and other 
American Birds, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. xvii, No. 1001, pp- 299-312, 1894. 
