Recent Literature.
Memorial Volume of Garrod’s Scientific Papers.[[26]] Garrod’s work is apparently not so well known in this country as it must eventually become, forming as it does a permanent way-mark in the progress of the science, and contributing indispensable material for the solving of the most vexed problem in ornithology—we mean a sound, rational classification of birds, based on morphological data according to the theory of genetic relationship, and as such one which any considerable number of ornithologists can agree to adopt and stand by. As is well understood, those of us who have no classification of our own to advance, fall back upon some convention as make-shift, practically waiving the points at issue. As far as taxonomy is concerned, the present attitude of ornithology is thoroughly iconoclastic; but, while we agree that much of what has been set up must be upset, few claim to know what ought to replace the broken images, and fewer still agree on that point. There is nevertheless a large amount of material at hand, the soundness and utility of which no one questions; and of late years Garrod has been both indefatigable and successful in setting bricks and mortar. Of the anatomical papers in the present volume, some 73 in number, more than half relate to birds, describing conditions of the osseous, muscular, respiratory, vascular, digestive and nervous systems which appear to promise most of value in taxonomy, and discussing in candid and scientific spirit, from a vantage-ground of long experience, the bearing of the anatomical points upon classification. Of the accuracy and high rate of reliability of these papers there can be no question; they are sufficiently lucid to shine with their own light, and there is a certain “finish” about them which is truly admirable. This is seen when the author is drawing the comparisons which his extensive knowledge enables him to adduce, and summing his conclusions. These are always clean-cut and luminous, so that we know exactly where to find Garrod, whether we like him and agree with him or not. It is scarcely possible that he has been exempt from the all but inevitable tendency of the mind’s eye to magnify the particular subjects there focussed for the time, and so get them more or less out of perspective of the whole range of vision; but he seems to have known and guarded against this most scrupulously, unless, perhaps the “ambiens” muscle proved too much for him. On the whole, we do not think that even the warm praise of the editor, his personal friend and admirer, is too much to say, and we quote with pleasure:
“Of his zoölogical papers indeed, the ornithological ones must probably, on account of their more novel character, and as affording entirely new data for the solution of the various problems connected with the classification of Birds, which he revolutionized, be considered of the greater importance. No future worker in that group can neglect the facts or ideas concerning it that we owe to Garrod, and they alone suffice to put his name in the very first rank of those who have ever studied these creatures, and to stamp his work on Birds as truly ‘Epochmachende.’ „
Garrod’s numerous papers, covering the period of 1871–79, are scattered through various periodicals; and it is a subject for congratulation that they have been collected in one convenient volume, under careful editorship. At a meeting of the Zoölogical Club to consider the wish of friends to possess some permanent memorial of Garrod, it was decided, with wisdom and good taste which none can impugn, “that the most appropriate and desirable one would be the publication, in a collected form, of all the papers published by Garrod in various scientific journals and periodicals, with a portrait and memoir of the author.” This decision has been ably carried into effect by Mr. Forbes, whose own contributions to the same subject already prove him to be one on whom the mantle may fittingly descend. We wish there were more work of this kind, even if not of the same highest quality, done by our own countrymen; but at present no one of them seems especially interested excepting Dr. Shufeldt, whose studies thus far possess much value and give still more promise. Noticing only two or three American names on the list of subscribers, we venture to hint that the work may be procured by others in the usual way.
We cannot of course go into any examination of these papers in an editorial notice like the present, or even adduce the leading results of the author. It must suffice to say that among them is an entirely new classification of birds, primarily based upon the ambiens. Among the more important papers we may mention those on the carotid arteries; on certain muscles of the leg (Garrod’s pièce de resistance); on the anatomy of Pigeons, of Parrots, and of Passerine Birds; and on the trachea in Gallinæ. All these are of general import, bearing on broad questions of taxonomy, as distinguished from minor papers, however valuable, in which special points are examined. The editor has done well to preserve the original pagination of the text and numeration of the illustrations for facility of citation, and the plates are said to be faithfully reproduced.—E.C.
Shufeldt’s Osteology of the North American Tetraonidæ.[[27]]—This osteological memoir is, so far as we know, the most complete of any on American birds of one group. In general the descriptions, with the aid of the numerous plates, can be easily understood. In treating of the skull Dr. Shufeldt adopts the old theory that it is nothing but the modified end of the back bone, and gives a diagramatic figure of the skull of Centrocercus much like that given by Owen of the Ostrich. This view will of course be rejected by all who do not consider the membrane and cartilage bones of the skull to be from the same source. The use of “hyoid arch” when speaking of all the tongue bones is, we think, liable to lead many young students astray; we would suggest “hyobranchial arches,” or “hyoid arches.”
A point of considerable interest is a small ossicle which occurs at the inner side of the II metacarpal—III metacarpal of Dr. Shufeldt’s homologies of the hand—near its base. This bone is compared to the pisiform bone of the Mammalia by the author. Besides this, two proximal and two distal carpal bones are found, just as in the chick. Thus the chick and the young Centrocercus have the same structure of the hand except the presence of a IV metacarpus in the first and a “pisiform” in the second. We notice that the “index” is described as being composed of only one phalanx; this we believe to be an oversight of the author; at all events most of the European Gallinæ have two phalanges, the last one bearing a claw. On reference to fig. 57 it will be seen that the distal end of the first phalanx in Centrocercus is very large and looks as if there should be another joint. As regards the tarsus, Dr. Shufeldt has been able to demonstrate the existence of a fibulare, tibiale, and intermedium, which ultimately become anchylosed with the tibia. Dr. Shufeldt also states that as a whole the different parts of this skeleton in Centrocercus are slow to anchylose, thus rendering the bird an extremely favorable one for the study of the separate elements of the skeleton.
The description of the osteology of Lanius ludovicianus excubitorides,[[28]] by the same author, is short, concise, and may be summed up in the statement that the skeleton of this bird is strictly Passerine.—J. Amory Jeffries.
Illustrations of Ohio Nests and Eggs.[[29]]—We are glad to record the progress of this great work, of which we have had former occasions to speak so highly. The ninth fascicle is the last which has reached us, carrying the number of plates to twenty-seven, each with its sheet or so of letter-press. The high standard of the work is on the whole maintained, although, to our eye at least, the plates lack somewhat of the peculiar attractiveness that the earlier ones had for us. It may, however, be only the charm of novelty that we miss; and there is certainly no falling off in the conscientious endeavor to unite fidelity to nature with artistic excellence in depicting these beautiful objects. Should the project be carried to completion, the work will certainly become a standard of reference. It deserves to be better known and more widely circulated than it appears thus far to have become, and we trust that time will serve to make its merit fully appreciated.
The following are the plates of the two parts before us. (In No. 8) Pl. 22, Cardinalis virginianus (the eggs shown in their remarkable extremes of size and coloring); Pl. 23, fig. 1, Vireo gilvus and fig. 2, V. olivaceus; Pl. 24, Zenaidura carolinensis; (in No. 9) Pl. 25, fig. 1, Trochilus colubris, fig. 2, Polioptila cærulea (and one is interested to see that these nests are of identical orders of architecture and ornamentation, however different in materials); Pl. 26, Spizella socialis; Pl. 27, Butorides virescens.