"Cardinalis cardinalis cardinalis." In other points most ornithologists will cordially agree, especially in the remark that "the correction of an author's orthographical errors is a pernicious practice, though much in vogue; 'science is not literature,' neither has it any concern with what an author should have done or meant to do, but only with what he actually did."
The synonymic references to the species are very ample, and have been compiled with much care. The book is essentially a publication that cannot be neglected, and must be consulted by all who study this avian fauna.
This, the last volume received, maintains its scientific value and excellence in illustration. No fewer than twenty contributors are answerable for its contents, and it is, of course, impossible to give a notice of each essay. Capt. R.W. Shufeldt records his "experiments in photography of live fishes," and nine plates attest the success of his efforts, which were made at the aquaria of the U.S. Fish Commission building in Washington. Prof. Mead is the writer of an elaborate paper on "The Natural History of the Star-fish." Among traditions attached to this animal was one relating to their mode of locomotion, as "that of clinging together in great clusters, and rolling along the bottom with the tide." Prof. Mead had seen balls of Star-fish clinging to each other, but upon examination it was found that the "Stars" were all endeavouring to devour some animal held in their midst. For the purpose of testing the ability of Star-fishes to creep over soft surfaces, vaseline was smeared thickly on a vertical glass plate, and on the under side of a horizontal glass plate, and these plates were submerged in an aquarium. Star-fishes measuring two or three inches from tip to tip were observed to travel over both these surfaces with no apparent difficulty. These experiments were made in an economic interest, and to solve the problem of how to prevent the invasion of these animals to the Oyster-beds; Collins, in 1888, having estimated the damage done by them to the beds in the Connecticut waters alone as amounting to
