THE SCIENTIST. 
29 
Barrows (j}oldei»-eyc Again. 
The supposed specimen of Barrows 
Goldeu.-eyc, taken last December, in 
tlie Neosho Valley, is declared upon 
examination by Col. Goss & Dr. Coues, 
to be an American Golden-eye, Dr. 
C, liowever admitting that the speci- 
men is '^somewhat equivocal.'" [ 
based my jad2:ment entirely upon Dr. 
Coues description of the shape of the 
liead of the Golden-eyes, feeling sure 
that any identitication based upon the 
plumage of a young bird might be 
wholly unreliable. 
Dr. Coues says in his "Key, etc.," 
that the head of the American Golden- 
eye is "moderately uniformly puffy," 
while that of the Barrow is slightly 
crested on the front of the occiput. 
Now this double cresting is very de- 
f^idedly marked in the specimen de- 
scribed by me. Under this circum- 
stance, I cannot feel the slighest cha- 
giin in having declared it to be prob- 
ably a specimen of G. islandica. 
P. B. Peabody. 
REVIEWS AND EXCHANtJES. 
Gein^ and Pri'cious Sforids of North 
America. A Popular Description of 
their Occurrence, Value, History, 
Archaialogy, and of the Collections in 
which they Exist, also a Chapter on 
Pearls and on Remarkabln Foreign 
Gems O^vued in tlie United States. By 
(xeorge FredtMick Knnz. Illustrated. 
356 Pages. Published by The Scienti- 
fic Publishing Compan\ , N. Y. City. 
Cloth uncut edges. Price $10.00. 
As the Author states in the Introduc- 
tion, this work is not intended either 
as a complete treatise on precious 
stones or on the science of mineralogy, 
but is confined more particularly to 
the occurrence of precious stones in 
North America. 
Chapteu I. On Diamonds, contMins 
some startling facts. Usually the scar- 
city of any parti(Milar tiling acctounis 
for its value, but when we learn from 
this chapter that over nine Ions of dia- 
monds, valued in the rough at .'§2oO.- 
000,000 and after cutting at over foOO.- 
000.000 have been taken from a tract 
of land '-vvithin a radius of a mile and 
a halt" since 1867, in the S aith African 
Tiiines. onti wcjiild naturally suppoisO 
diamonds would soon become vt^rv 
common and cheap stones. n(iver-the- 
less there is no danger of diamonds 
ever being a glut on the counti'y and 
unless some new lield is discovered they 
will probably increase in price. 
Chapteu XLI. Devoted to Pearls, is of 
especial interest as many hundreds of 
dollars worth are found each year in 
various parts of the U. 8. "Strictly 
speaking" says Mr. Kunz "the pearl is 
not a precious stone at all nor a min- 
eral but simply an animal product." 
Chapter XVL And last, detines 
precious stones, speaks of imports, 
watch jewels, stones for ornamenta- 
tion of silver, furniture, interio)- 
decorations, etc., etc. There are 836 
pages not including seven full page 
and one double page colored litho- 
graphs by Messrs. L. Prang & Co., of 
Boston, nor sixteen other full page 
plates. 
Scattered through the text are more 
than twenty wood engravings so the 
work is excellently illustrated. Mr. 
Kunz of New York City, is gem expert 
with Messrs. Tift'any & Co., and 
special agent of the U. S. Geological 
Survey. The author was assisted by 
Holmes, Clark, Diller and Day, of the 
U. S. Geological Survey; Ward, 
Knowlton, Dall, Merrill, Wilson a>nd 
Stearns of the U. S. National Museum 
