the number of the eyes in the American form appears to be peculiar, as no mention is made of it in any of the foreign descriptions. In about thirty per cent. of the individuals there are more than the normal number (two) of eyes, the number varying from three to eight, three being the number most frequently occuring.

A detailed account of this and other American Turbellaria, based upon collections made by the Illinois State Natural History Survey and submitted to the writer for study, is in course of preparation.— W. McM. WOODWORTH.

On the Genus Callisaurus.-Two new species of this genus present lateral fringes of the toes. These are not so well developed as in the species referred to Uma, but they are sufficiently so to show that the latter name must be abandoned, and the species referred to it be placed in Callisaurus. Thus, Uma notata Baird, U. scoparia Cope, U. rufopunctata Cope, etc., must be called Callisaurus notatus, etc. two new species referred to are both from lower California.

The

CALLISAURUS CRINITUS-Callisaurus dracontoides Cope, Proceeds. U. S. Natl. Museum, 1889, p. 147. Two series of frontal scales, separated from the rather larger supraoculars by two (or one) rows of small scales. Large supraoculars in four or five longitudinal rows, the inner row largest, the patch bounded by granular scales anteriorly and posteriorly. Interparietal plate longer than wide. Hind leg reaching to front of orbit. Second, third and fourth fingers with well-developed fringes, which are weak on the inner side of the second and third. External side of second, third and fourth toes with welldeveloped fringes. Femoral pores twenty-three, the scales which they perforate in contact with each other. Color above as in C. draconoides. Below a blue patch on each side, with three large oblique black spots and a trace of a fourth. Total length 200 mm., head and body 87 mm., hind leg 72 mm. U. S. N. M., No. 14,895, one specimen..

The differences from C. draconoides are the digital fringes, the larger number of femoral pores on adjacent scales, and the three or four black spots of the belly patch; the shorter hind legs, and the longer, interparietal plate. This species has the larger size of the form C. draconoides ventralis.

CALLISAURUS RHODOSTICTUS-One row of frontal scales separated by small scales from the rather obscure patch of supraoculars. Interparietal as wide as long. Gular scales subequal. The hind leg extended, reaches to and beyond the end of the muzzle. Well developed fringes on the external sides of the fingers and toes, excepting on the

first and fifth. Femoral pores fifteen and sixteen, in scales which are separated by intervening scales. Coloration above as in C. draconoides; below a blue patch on each side which is crossed by three oblique black spots, the third generally followed by a fourth black spot, which does not reach the abdominal border. In front of the blue patch and posterior to the axilla a large rosy spot. A large rosy spot on the gular region. Size smaller, equal the C. draconoides draconoides. Numerous specimens from lower California from A. W. Anthony. As this species was accompanied by Uta parviscutata V. den B. and Crotalus ruber Cope, the locality is not the Cape San Lucas country. It approaches nearer the C. draconoides than does the C. crinitus. The differences are, the digital fringes, the three or four black abdominal spots, and the rose spots on the sides and throat.-E. D. COPE.

The Food of Birds.-A report upon the food habits of the catbird (Galeoscoptes carolinensis) the brown thrasher (Harporhyncus rufus) the mocking bird Mimus polyglottus) and the house wren (Troglodytes aëdon) by S. D. Judd, contains the following information. The wren is exclusively insectivorus, and, therefore highly beneficial to agriculture. Among the pests destroyed by this bird are the snout beetles, of which the plum curculio is a familiar example. Stink bugs and caterpillars, both of which are plant feeders, are also made way with in large numbers. The catbird and thrasher do much less good than the wren because of their mixed diet of animal and vegetable food, the propor tion of the former in the thrasher being 63 per cent., that in the catbird 44, for the entire season. The number of mocking birds examined was only 15, so that their character, as friend or foe of the agriculturist, is still undetermined. The stomachs of those examined, however, indicate that the bulk of their food is animal.

Mr. Judd concludes his report by advising farmers to secure the services of the wren by putting up nesting boxes for them, and protecting them from the quarrelsome English sparrows.

A second interesting paper on the food habits of birds records the results of the examination by Mr. F. E. L. Beal of the stomachs of 238 meadow larks, and 113 Baltimore orioles. The meadow lark is a ground feeder and the great bulk of its food is grasshoppers, of which it consumes an enormous number. The other insects eaten are ants, bugs, caterpillars and beetle larvæ.

The oriole feeds largely on caterpillars and wasps, eating so many the former that it is a highly important beneficial factor in agricultural work.

A summary of the stomach contents for the whole year shows that nearly three-fourths of the food of the meadow lark for the year, including the winter mouths, consists of insects.

The oriole has a similarly good record. The food for the whole season consisted of 83.4 per cent. of animal matter and 16.6 per cent. of vegetable matter.

These statistics show the importance of according these birds the protection they so well deserve. (Year book Dept. Agri. for 1895. Washington, 1896.

Preliminary Description of a New Vole from Labrador. -In the summer of 1895, Mr. C. H. Goldthwaite made a trip to Hamilton Inlet, Labrador, to collect mammals for the Bangs Collection. The material he got is of much interest, but as I am obliged to delay publishing a full account of it for the present, I take this opportunity of making known apparently the only new species he took-a rather remarkable vole.

MICROTUS ENIXUS sp. nov.

Eighty specimens, all taken in the immediate vicinity of Hamilton Inlet.

Type from Hamilton Inlet, Labrador.

No. 3973, 9, old adult; collection of E. A. and O. Bangs; collected July 15, 1895, by C. H. Goldthwaite. Total length, 210; tail vertebræ, 67; hind-foot, 22.5.

General characters: Size medium (about that of M. pennsylvanicus); tail long; hind-foot large and strong; colors dark with a sooty brown cast to upper parts; skull differing in many minor particulars from that of any eastern vole; molar teeth extremely small and weak, the tooth row very short; incisor teeth long and projecting.

Color: Upper parts a dark burnt umber brown, with many blacktipped hairs intermixed, and a general sooty cast; nose patch the same. Underparts dark gray (some specimens in fresh pelage slightly washed with buffy). Feet and hands dusky. Tail indistinctly bicolored, black above, dark gray beneath.

Cranial characters: Skull rather small (smaller than the skulls of examples of M. pennsylvanicus, the external measurements being substantially) the same; rostrum slender and straight; audital bullæ of moderate size, very round; palate without so pronounced a "step" as that of pennsylvanicus. Incisor teeth, both upper and under, long, slender and projecting outward at a decided angle. Molar teeth very weak and small, the tooth row averaging 1 m. shorter than in skulls of

pennsylvanicus of equal size; posterior loop of last upper molar extremely small, enamel folding otherwise much as in pennsylvanicus. Size: Average measurements of ten old adult topotypes-total length 189-4; tail vertebræ, 60'4; hind-foot, 22.4.-OUTRAM BANGS.

Zoological News.-CŒLENTERATA.-Mr. Whiteaves records the finding of a second specimen of the branching Alcyonarian coral, Primnoa reseda, in the Pacific waters, off the coast of British Columbia. This is the third species of large Alcyonaria now known to occur in this region, viz., Verrillia blakei Stearns, Paragorgia pacifica Verrill and Primnoa reseda Pallas. Fine examples of each of these are in the Museum of the Geological Survey of Canada. (Trans. Roy. Soc. Canada, Vol. I, 1895-'96.)

PISCES. A new genus (Apogonops) of fishes from Maronba Bay, New South Wales, is described by Mr. J. D. Ogilby. The genus is founded on a single specimen to which has been given the species name, anomalus. At first glance this genus appears to belong with the Apogonidæ, but the absence of vomerine teeth and the number of dorsal spines preclude such a classification. (Proceeds. Linn. Soc. New South Wales, 1896.)

REPTILIA. Dr. Alfredo Dugés has recently published in La Naturaleza, a useful list of the Batrachia and Reptilia of Mexico, with the localities in which they have been found. While a good many species are omitted, the lists of localities are of much value to the student of geographical distribution.

AVES. From personal observation M. X. Raspail finds that the time occupied by the Magpie (Pica caudata) in the incubation of its eggs is from 17 days to 18 days and 13 hours. The young come from the egg entirely bare, without even a trace of down, and are cared for by the parents about 25 or 26 days before they attempt to leave the nest. (Bull. Soc. Zool. de France, Juillet, 1896.)

The birds collected by Dr. A. Donaldson Smith in Somaliland contain a number of species and genera which find their closest allies in the Cape fauna. In a notice of the collection, Dr. Bowdler-Sharpe states that they are more nearly related to the birds of the Cape than to the fauna of Abyssinia or East Africa. (Geol. Journ. Sept., 1896.) The collection of birds made by Mr. Abbott in Central Asia has been presented to the National Museum. It numbers 210 specimens, representing 97 known species, and one new to science. The collection has been catalogued by Mr. C. W. Richmond, who embodies in his paper a number of interesting notes on many of the species. (Proceeds. U. S. Natl. Mus., Vol. XVIII, 1896.)

MAMMALIA. Dr. C. H. Merriam has recently revised the Lemmings of the genus Synaptomys, giving descriptions of three new species. He finds that this genus instead of being monoty pic, comprises two well marked subgeneric groups-Synaptomys' proper and Mictomys; that the first of these groups inhabits eastern Canada and northeastern United States from Minnesota to New Brunswick, and contains four fairly well defined forms; that Mictomys has a transcontinental distribution from Labrador to Alaska, and contains at least four species. (Proceeds. Biol. Sc., Washington, Vol. X, 1896.)

ENTOMOLOGY.'

A New Era in the Study of Diptera.-The work done on the classification of North American Diptera falls naturally into three periods. The first ended with the publication of the "Catalogue of North American Diptera," by Osten Sacken, in 1859. The descriptive work of most value previous to this time was by Wiedmann and Say, and a little by Loew toward the last. Harris, Macquart and Walker had also published numerous species; but there had been little coöperation, and it was nearly impossible to determine from the descriptions the synonyms that had been created. Osten Sacken recognized this condition, and did not attempt to solve such problems in his catalogue.

The following nineteen years to the second edition of the catalogue in 1878 comprise the second period, characterized by the singular fact that the vast amount of work accomplished was almost wholly by Europeans. Walsh published some twenty species, Riley eight, and several others from one to four each-scarce forty in all-while Loew had in the same time performed the monumental work of describing at least 1300 North American species, Osten Sacken had added several hundred, and Schiner and Thomson a considerable number. Moreover, the new edition of the catalogue was enriched with a vast fund of information gathered by the author in the study of American types in all the principal European collections, revising the synonymy and correcting the generic references as would have been impossible in any other way. About the time of the issuance of the catalogue, the collections of Loew and Osten Sacken were deposited in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, at Cambridge, Mass. This marked the conclusion of what may well be called the Loew-Osten Sacken period. Loew died, and Osten Sacken retiring from the diplomatic service, resumed his residence in Germany. His dipterological writings since 1 Edited by Clarence M. Weed, New Hampshire College, Durham, N. H.