Aves. 
41 
cases seem fo follow the course of rivers_, and especially of the 
Danube. The author also adds some particulars of observations 
made by himself on birds of passage in Norway, and on some 
of the Frocellariid (2 in the Southern Seas as noticed by Mr. E. L. 
Layard in the 'Ibis’ (1862, p. 97, and 1863, p. 241). 
Newton, Alfred. On an Illustration of the Manner in which 
Birds may occasionally aid in the Dispersion of Seeds. Ann. 
and Mag. Nat. Hist. 3 ser. vol. xiii. pp. 99-101. (Reprinted 
from Proc. Zool. Soc. 1863, p. 127). 
The author describes a mass of earth 7\ inches in circumfer- 
ence, and weighing 6f oz., which had accumulated round the 
foot of an example of Caccabis rufa, and remarks that it was 
sufficient to hold the germs of a very extensive flora*. 
Second, L. A. Application des principes de morphologic k la 
classification des Oiseaux. Comptes Rendus de PAcad. 
Fran9. August 1, 1864. Rev. Zool. 1864, p. 263. 
Tlie author states that when search is made into the least 
variable parts of the Ornithic skeleton for the characters which 
will best reveal existing affinities among birds, he finds that all 
the species are derived either directly or by mixture {par 
melange) from four types, of which the Eagle, the Swan, the 
Cock, and the Ostrich manifest the most perfect representation. 
In a former communication made to the Academy, M. Segond 
had taken the central part only of the vertebral column as a 
means of determining the methodical distribution of the Mam- 
malia. In the class of Birds, on account of the more specialized 
structure of the skeleton, it is necessary to have recourse to the 
whole of the trunk. 
Wallace, A. R. Remarks on the Value of Osteological 
Characters in the Classification of Birds. Ibis, 1864, pp. 
36-41. 
The author shows that the remarks of M. Blanchard (Ann. 
des Sc. Natur. 1859, p. 75) had been anticipated by his own 
(Ann. Nat. Hist. 2 ser. xviii. pp. 193-216), wherein he sepa- 
rated from the true or normal Passer es every family which M. 
Blanchard separated — arriving in fact at nearly the same deter- 
mination to which Nitzsch and Mr. Eyton, from the considera- 
tion of entirely different characters, had previously come. Mr. 
* We may perhaps be excused for taking this opportunity of stating that 
in the autumn of 1803 the specimen mentioned above, and which was then three 
years oM, was submitted to Mr. Darwin, who ha^ been so good as to inform 
us that from the mass of earth 82 seeds germinated, 12 being those of mo- 
nocotyledoiious, and 70 of dicotyledonous plants of at least 5 different 
species. — A. N. 
