long some one may have the enterprise to do so. We must remark that the fact of the bird not being met with oftener is really no valid objection to our theory that it does still exist, when we reflect that, of the millions of the allied species which every summer resort to the "bird-cliffs" of the north to breed, an almost infinitesimally small proportion is ever seen at any other period of the year, even by those who occupy their business among the great waters. We do not attempt to explain the why and the wherefore of thisperhaps as our knowledge of the peculiarities of the Mid-Atlantic increases, we may be better able to give a satisfactory account of the fact-but so it is. In former days, when "Penguins" were abundant about Newfoundland, they seem to have passed southward along the coast in winter, and thus we find Catesby, in the early part of last century (Hist. Carol. App. p. xxxvi.) including the species as an occasional visitor at that season to the shores of Carolina, but we can well imagine a settlement of, at most, some few hundreds existing for years on such spots as the Geirfugladrangr or the Virgin Rocks, without even a straggler coming across the path of the few seafaring men who would appreciate the value of the meeting. This belief we confess to fondly cherishing-we cannot yet bring ourselves to address our old friend the Great Auk, in the tender words of Milton: 66 Aye me! whilst thee the shores and sounding seas Where thou perhaps, under the whelming tide, Visit'st the bottom of the monstrous world." Whether however the species be extinct or not, the fate of the Gare-fowl has still much interest. If it still exists, its doom will probably be sealed by its re-discovery. For all practical purposes, therefore, we may speak of it as a thing of the past, and regarded in this light the subject becomes even more than interesting, because owing to the recent date of the bird's extirpation (whether completed or not), we possess much more information respecting the exterminating process, than we do in the case of any other extinct species. Without drawing any overstrained inferences, we see how the merciless hand of man, armed perhaps, only with the rudest of weapons, has driven the Gare-fowl, first from the shores of Denmark, and then from those of Scotland. At a later period it has been successively banished from the Orkneys, the Færoes and S. Kilda. Then too, a casual but natural event has accelerated its fate. The eruption of a submarine volcano on the coast of Iceland by laying low one of its chief abodes has contributed effectually to its destruction. But worse than all this has been the blow which on the discovery of America came upon the portion of the race inhabiting the Newfoundland islets, when it was brought suddenly face to face with a powerful and hitherto unknown enemy, and where the result has been what invariably happens, when a simple tribe of savages used only to the primeval customs of its forefathers is all at once confronted with invaders of the highest type of civilization-" The place thereof knoweth it no more.”* In conclusion, we have to say, that we have left several collateral branches of our subject- The Gare-fowl and its Historians'-quite untouched. Some of them are very interesting - especially that of the etymology of the various names applied to Alca impennis, which has perhaps more bearing on biology, than our readers might at first be inclined to think-but we feel that enough has been said for the present. Let us only submit that we are far from having exhausted our theme. XL.-ZOOLOGICAL MUSEUMS. (1.) RETURN To an Order of THE HON. THE HOUSE OF COMMONS (3.) RAPPORT ADRESSÉ A SON EXC. Le Ministre de L'INSTRUCTION PUBLIQUE, par la Commission Instituée en Execution du decret du * The number of existing specimens of Alca impennis, has by some writers been greatly underrated. Of stuffed skins it is stated there are 63 or 64, of eggs at least 59, (Ann. Nat. Hist. 3d. ser., vol. xiv. p. 393). Of osteological specimens in addition to those mentioned in the text, there are only a few bones in the Royal College of Surgeons. 29th Dec. 1863, pour l'Inspection du materiel du Museum d' Histoire Naturelle. Paris, 1865. (4.) ANNUAL REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY AT HARVARD COLLEGE, IN CAMBRIDGE, together with the Report of the Director, 1864. Boston, U. S. A. 1865. (5.) ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, showing the Operations, Expenditures, and Condition of the Institution for the Year 1863. Washington, 1864. (6.) MUSEUM D'HISTOIRE NATURELLE DES PAYS-BAS. REVUE MÉTHODIQUE ET CRITIQUE DES COLLECTIONS DEPOSÉES DANS CET ETABLISSEMENT. Leyde, 1862-4. Parts 1-6. As regards the progress of Zoological Science nothing can be of greater importance than the welfare of the great public Museums which every civilized nation in some form or other maintains within its dominions. It is to these institutions, and to those that are employed in them, that we must chiefly look for aid in extending our present imperfect acquaintance with the numerous and varied forms of the Animal Kingdom. Great as the benefits are which have been conferred on Zoology by amateurs and private collections, there can be no doubt that it is of far greater importance to the advance of science to keep our great public Museums and their staffs in an efficient state, than to give any amount of encouragement to the exertions of individual Naturalists. There can be no question therefore of the interest which attaches itself to the publications, of which the titles are given above. They supply us with information as to the present state of some of the most important public collections of Europe and America, and as such are eminently worthy of our readers' attention. We begin then by taking up the document annually presented to Parliament by the Trustees of the "British Museum," which, besides the accounts of the income and expenditure of that establishment for the past year, with which we will not now trouble ourselves, contains reports from the officers of the different departments as to the "progress made in the cataloguing and arrangement, and an account of objects added, in the year 1864." Before noticing them severally, we may remark that a person unacquainted with the peculiar regime prevailing in the British Museum, would be rather N.H.R.-1865. 2 L puzzled at finding, first of all, a general Report headed "Departments of Natural History," signed by Professor Owen, and following it four other reports on the different "Departments" of "Zoology," "Geology," "Mineralogy," and "Botany," signed by Dr. Gray, Mr. Waterhouse, Mr. Story-Maskelyne, and Mr. Bennett respectively. Some indication, we think, should be given that these four "departments" together make up the general "Department of Natural History," of which Professor Owen has the superintendence.* As has been the case in former years, Professor Owen's chief theme all through his present Report is want of space. This, as most of our readers well know, has been the standing complaint in Bloomsbury for a long period. As we have pointed out in our last year's volume,† the Government will do nothing to remedy it, so long as the collections remain in their present situation. And, although the shortness of the last Parliamentary Session, together with the incompleteness of the negotiations with the Trustees, have again prevented the removal to Kensington from being carried out during the present year, there can be no doubt that the scheme will be brought before Parliament again upon their next assembly. So that we may now fairly look forward to a nearly approaching period when this long continued evil will be obviated by the transfer of the Natural History collections to a new locality, where ample space is available for their reception, and where they will form the nucleus of a new institution, freed, we trust, from many of the disadvantages to which they are at present subject. Referring to Professor Owen's Report, we find that the total number of additions to the Departments of Natural History during the year 1864 was 12,973, and that the whole of the series under his superintendence was generally in a good state of preservation. The most noticeable acquisition of the Zoological Department during the year is stated to have been the collection made by Mr. Tristram's expedition to Palestine, concerning which the following remarks are given : "The "arneveth, which cheweth the cud and divideth not the hoof," rendered "hare" in our version of Deuteronomy xiv. 7, and Leviticus xi. 6, is represented in this collection by the Lepus Syriacus. This is, we suppose, the case. But Professor Owen's General Report does not contain a word about "Botany," and the paragraph on the number of additions (p. 23), would seem to indicate that " Botany" is net part of "Natural History!" † Nat. Hist. Rev. 1864, p. 343. The " 'shāphān, which make their houses in rocks," rendered coney" in Proverbs xxx. 26, Psalm civ. 18, and elsewhere, is exemplified by the Hyrax Syriacus. The "Achbar," rendered "mouse" in Leviticus xi. 29, may refer to the species of Arvicola, or Gerbillus, or Acomys, as well as Mus, in Mr. Tristram's collection. The specimens of Ibex and Gazella are probably the species alluded to under the names "tzaphir," Daniel viii. 21, Yehel, Job xxxix. 1, and "ez," Genesis xv. 9, and rendered "chamois in Deuteronomy xvi. 5, and elsewhere. Of the hâtalleph, rendered “bats" in Deuteronomy xiv. 18, and Isaiah ii. 20, the collection includes species of Rhinopoma, Rhinolophus, Noctulinia, Vespertilio, and Plecotus. It contains also a specimen of Syrian badger, although it is doubtful whether the “tachash" is rightly so rendered in Exodus and Numbers. The "dugong" (Halichore Hemprichii of the Red Sea), which more probably supplied the covering of the Tabernacle, is still a desideratum. The species of Genetta, Herpestes, and other small Carnivores brought from Palestine by Mr. Tristram, are indicated by the term "Hholed," or Choled, in the Hebrew Scriptures, usually rendered "weasel" in the authorised version, Leviticus xi. 29. The "tanshemeth," or "mole," may have referred to the species of Spalax in the present collection, in which there is no true Talpa. The specimens of Testude Græca, and of Emys Caspica, which Mr. Tristram has shown to range to the Holy Land, exemplify the forms to which reference is made by the Hebrew "tzav," or tsab," rendered "tortoise after his kind," in Leviticus xi. 29. The brief notices of the serpents in the Old Testament preclude a determination of their species; but the number of these, including three or more poisonous kinds, collected in Palestine by Mr. Tristram, accords with the references to such by diverse names, as e.g. "nahash" and "shephiphon," respectively rendered " serpent" and "adder," in Genesis xlix. 17; the poison of the "náchâsh" and "pethen," rendered "serpent" and "adder," in Psalm lviii. 4; the species "which stingeth like an adder," "ephah" and "tzepha," Proverbs xxiii. 32; the serpent whose bite inflames," saraph," rendered "fiery serpent" in Numbers xxi. 5.' In the Geological Department Professor Owen calls especial attention to the collection of fossil remains and implements from the cave of Bruniquel, in Southern France, which were acquired by the Trustees in the spring of last year, as a "special purchase " for the |