AVES. 
49 
more satisfactory arrangement than has yet been attained, and 
we shall be greatly mistaken if they have not this effect, though 
we may never reach the goal of a classification on Genetic prin- 
ciples, which can alone be the System of Nature/^ {Cf, 
Joiirn. A.nat. & Physiol, i. pp. 369-371, ii. p. 390; Ibis, 1867, 
pp, 254, 255, 1868, pp. 85-96, 357-362.) 
Martens, E. von. Die Preussische Expedition nach Ost-Asien. 
Nach amtlichen Quellen. Erster Band — erste Halfte. 
Berlin : 1865. Boy. 8vo, pp. 192. 
The expedition sailed early in 1860 ; and this work gives a 
general account of the zoology of the places visited by the ^Thetis,' 
on board which the author was. Ornithology does not come in 
for many remarks; but that of the Madeiras is noticed (p. 8), 
and further on a list of the species found there is given (pp. 20, 
21), chiefly from Mr. E. Vernon- HarcourPs (Ann. & Mag. Nat. 
Hist. 2nd ser. xv. pp. 430-438) . Mention is successively made 
of the birds observed in the Tropical Atlantic (p. 27), at Bio 
Janeiro (pp. 35, 37), in the Southern Ocean (pp. 45-50), many of 
which were not identified, the Straits of Sunda (pp. 50-53), and 
Japan (pp. 62-68, 87-109, and 147) — a list being given from a 
Japanese encyclopaedia of their names, and a pretty successful 
attempt at identifying the species included with scientific no- 
menclature being made. The birds of Northern China are 
afterwards mentioned (pp. 155, 156) and then those of Southern 
China (pp. 179, 180). Finally a list of birds observed in the 
Philippine Islands is begun (pp. 187-192), but left unfinished. 
This includes some of those given in the author^s more detailed 
list (Zool. Bee. iii. p. 56) ; but descriptions of those then an- 
nounced as new are not added. [Cf. Ibis, 1868, pp. 340, 341.) 
Milne-EdwardSj a. Becherches Anatomiques et Paleontolo- 
giques pour servir k Fhistoire des Oiseaux Fossiles de la 
France. Livr. 1-17. Paris: 1867. 4to, pis. 
This magnificent work, now in course of publication, is the 
prize-essay mentioned by us last year (Zool. Bee. iii, p. 47). 
After a chapter of general considerations comes one containing 
the authors notions of the osteology of birds, which is divided 
into sections, each treating of a portion of the skeleton (the leg, 
trunk, wing, and head) — a convenient arrangement of the subject, 
followed throughout the work. The osteological characters of 
the Anatid(B are next considered ; and to this succeeds a descrip- 
tion of the fossil species belonging to the family, first those of 
the tertiary epoch and next those of the quaternary A 
chapter follows on birds probably allied to the AnatidcBj where 
is lodged Gastornis parisiensis *. The Pelecanidce are treated in 
the same way, and then the Colymbidae and Podicipid<s, under 
* A more detailed memoir, by the same author, on this much-discussed 
form will be found in Ann. des Sc. Nat. 6® s6r, Zool. vii. pp. 217-227. 
1867. [voL. IV.] B 
