Mr. Symington Grieve has written a "Supplementary Note on the Great Auk or Garefowl (Alca impennis, Linn.)." These notes, we read, are written up to 31st July, 1897. A summary of existing remains of this bird is given. Number of birds represented by the following remains:—
| Skins | 79 | or | 80 |
| Skeletons (more or less complete) | 23 | or | 24 |
| Detached bones | 850 | or | 861 |
| Physiological preparations | 2 | or | 3 |
| Eggs | 70 | or | 72 |
Five reproductions from photographs of preserved specimens of the Great Auk are given as plates. This pamphlet is reprinted from the 'Transactions of the Edinburgh Field Naturalists' and Microscopical Society,' and published by W. Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh.
Mr. Reginald Heber Horne, Jun., writes in the 'Auk' on the subject of "Birds' Tongues in Pictures."[1] He has satisfied himself "that from a distance of a few feet, with a strong opera-glass, a bird's tongue cannot be seen between the open mandibles when singing. In almost all drawings or paintings of singing birds one will find the elevated tongue shown clearly. The musical instrument of a bird is not its tongue, as almost everyone knows; the sounds and modifications are produced in the throat, and therefore why should the tongue be expected to show (except perhaps as a modulator)? To cut the tongue out of a picture of a singing bird detracts from it, and looks exceedingly strange, solely because we are used to seeing it so in likenesses, but not in life; but the portrait nevertheless becomes true to nature."
In this month's 'Entomologist's Monthly Magazine,' Mr. Edward Saunders concludes a series of papers entitled "Hints on collecting Aculeate Hymenoptera." The information given is, however, far more than the title conveys, and is, in fact, quite an unique account of the habits and times of appearance of these interesting insects, and based on personal experience and observation. It is a real contribution to the Natural History of Insects.
In September, Prof. Drechsel, of Leipzig, was seized with apoplexy whilst sitting at his working table at the Zoological Station of Naples, and, in spite of prompt assistance, died within twenty minutes of the moment of seizure. Prof. Drechsel was fifty-four years old, and was for some time Director of the Chemical Section of the Leipzig Physiological Institute. At the time of his death he was Professor of Physiological Chemistry at the
- ↑ "Birds' Tongues in Pictures". Auk 14 (4): 413. 1897. (Wikisource-ed.)
