676 The American Naturalist. [August, 
and Phyllodactylus. The Allnand and Belly collection comprise 33 
Reptiles and 16 Batrachians. Among the latter are 2 new species of 
Mantidactylus and 1 of Stumpffia. There are but 11 Sphidia, but 
these include types of two new genera, Compsophis and Alluondina 
and a new species of Pseudoxyrhopus. The Lacertilia, 22 in number, 
yield 4 new species referred to the following genera: Chameleon, 
Brookesia, Uroplates and Paracontias. The diagnosis of the new Rep- 
tiles of this collection have been previously given in the Comptes rendus 
de la Soc. Philom. for 1894. 
A comparison of these two collections, with the forms described by 
Prof. Boettger from Madagascar, shows that certain species considered 
by him as peculiar to Nossi-Bé are found distributed all through the 
northern part of the island. This is true not only of the Reptiles but 
of the Batrachians also. (Bull. Soc. Philom., Paris, 1895.) 
The Molting of Birds.—In a paper published recently in the 
Proceeds. Phila. Acad., Mr. Witmer Stone gives a detailed account of 
his observations on the molting of birds, with especial reference to the 
- plumages of the smaller land birds of eastern North America. Atten- 
tion is directed to the following points: order, number and times of 
molt; change of color by abrasion; seasonal plumages ; direct change 
of color in feathers. As a result of his studies Mr. Stone makes the 
following generalizations : 
T. The annual moult at the close of the breeding season is a physi- 
ological necessity, and is common to all birds. 
II. The spring molt and striking changes of plumage effected by 
abrasion are not physiological necessities, and their extent is dependent 
upon the height of development of coloration in the adult plumage, 
and does not necessarily have any relation to the systematic relation- 
ships of the species. 
It naturally follows that closely related species may differ materially 
in the number and extent of their molts, and that malesand females of 
the same species differ greatly in this respect when the nuptual plu- 
mage of the adult male is highly developed as compared with that of 
the female or with its own winter plumage. 
III. The amount of change effected in the plumage at any particular 
molt varies considerably in different individuals of the same species 
and sex. 
IV. Some species which have a well marked spring molt in their 
first and second years may discontinue it afterwards, when the adult 
plumage has once been acquired. And, on the other hand, some indi- 
