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 Mar., 1908 PUBLICATIONS REVIEWED 97 the above-riried brochure bids fair to pass the standard set by the various other English Monografs of recent years. All the known species of Petrels, Shearwaters and Albatrosses will be dealt with in the completed work, so that for this Order of birds it becomes our standard text. The first part treats of 24 species of the Genera Procellaria, Halocyptena, Oceano- droma, Oceanires, Garrodia, Pelagodroma, Pealea, and Cymodroma. Of these the Genus Oceano- droma is the only one represented on the western coast of North America north of the Mexican boundary, and, moreover, it is the largest Genus, containing no less than thirteen recognized species. eucorhoa, beali, beldingi, keadingi, macro- dactyla, melania, homochroa, monorhis (the socorroensi of our lists), hornbyi, and furcata are the species of Oceanodroma accredited to the eastern north Pacific. O. hornbyi contin- ues to be known only from the type specimen now in the Brirish Museum, and "said to have been obtained in the seas off the north-western coast of America." Mr. Godman evidently resents the action of the A. O. U. Committee in placing the species on the Hypothetical List, "as if the correctness of the habitat were not credited." But he further says, "unfortu- nately, after the manner of the times, no original label was attached to the specimen." However, until the species is rediscovered, it seens to us the ' course of the A. O. U. Com- mittee is best followed. The lately described O. monorhis chapmani as well as tlle older O. socorroensis are both considered by the author as identical with the O. monorhis of Swinhoe, described in 1867 from China, thus giving the species an extremely wide range. Mr. God-. man seems to have taken great pains in work- ing over the literature' of the subject and pre- senting the reader with selected biographical and exact distriburional data. The beautiful hand-colored plates are perhaps the most at- tractive feature of the work.--J. G. GEOGRAPHIC VARIATION IN BIRDS, WITH ESPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE EFFECTS OF HUMIDITY by C. WILLIAM BEEBE, Curator of Birds, New York Zoological Park (Zooloica.' N.Y. Zool. Soc., Vol. I, No. 1, September 25, 1907; 41 pages, 6 figures.) Mr. Beebe first takes up the historical phase of the subject, giving quotations from many eminent biologists who have studied geo- graphic variation. Several of these quoted statements are diametrically opposed to one another, and the reader is left with the impres- sion that the subject is as yet largely theoret- ical. The consensus of opinion seems to be, however, that humidity does affect the color of animals, those in the more humid parts of the earth being as a rule darker than those in the arid regions. Many interesting examples of the supposed effect of humidity on coloration are cited, and these bear out well the above statement. Dichromatism is discussed in the second division of the paper. In several cases, for in- stance in Gallinao allinao and Chen hyper- boreus, the dark phase is shown to inhabit a restricted and humid locality, whereas the light phase is more migratory and is widely distributed. This is also the case with the Black Hawk, the dark phase of the Rough- legged Hawk; but when dichromarism in the Jaegers is taken into account, no geographical explanation is possible, since the "distinction depends neither on age, sex, or season," and light birds frequently mate with those in the dark phase. Felis onca, the South American jaguar, and Fells pardus, the leopard of Asia, present instances of dark individuals in the more humid portions of their respective coun- tries; in the Mountain Sheep of the western United States black individuals are frequently seen, tho moisture inthis case could have noth- ing to do with it. In conclusion the author says that these points will be cleared up only by the study of ecological conditions surround- ing the species in question, and by experimen- tarion on individuals "with climal factors modified." More problems are presented by Part III, which considers the subject of sporadic melan- ism. Several examples are given and dis- cussed. Part IV and V deal with experiments car- ried on by Mr. Beebe himself. Three young Wood Thrushes, I-lylocichla mustelina, were taken from a nest and brought up by hand. Two of the birds lived long enough for the completion of a sarisfactory experiment. One was kept in an outdoor aviary where conditions were as nearly normal as possible, while the other was confined in a superhumid atmos- phere. This bird had not quite completed its second annual molt whefi it died. It showed a very marked darkening of the breast and side fathers, with a "tendency toward albin- ism" in the primaries and rectrices, whereas the outdoor bird was to all appearances in per- fectly normal plumage. Two White-throated Sparrows were treated in a like manner. At the end of three years the plumage of the indoor bird was "reelartistic to an extreme degree," while that of the other was normal. Similar experinents carried on with Scar- dafella inca, the Inca Dove, are considered in Part V. At the outset the geographical modi- fications of the wild genus Scardafella as it is traced from Arizona and Texas south thru Mexico to Brazil are considered. When a typical Scardafella inca is confined six months before the annual postnuptial molt, and exam-