4o8 C. DA VIES SHE R BORN [December 



sous-divisions, ordres et genres des mammiferes par de C en Lacepede," 

 [etc.] " A Paris, chez Plassan [etc.] L'an vii de la Kepublique," pages 

 1-18; followed by "Tableau des sous-classes, divisions, sous-divisions, 

 ordres et genres des oiseaux" [no title-page or date], pages 1-20, and 

 " de l'imprimerie de Plassan." 



The whole is bound in the original boards, and is uncut in two 

 places; is obviously a complete and perfect book; contains the 38 pp. 

 tract referred to by Engelmann on p. 376 ; and was reviewed in detail 

 in the Joum. ge'ne'ral Litt. France, iii. 1800, Nivose An viii. (December 

 21, 1799, to January 19, 1800), p. 7. Having, therefore, found this 

 missing book, we are now in a position to speak definitely as to the 

 date of Lacepede's generic and specific names. They first appeared 

 in print quite towards the end of 1799, in the newly found tract. 

 They were quoted by Daudin in his " Traite Orn." 1800 (Richmond, 

 Auk, xvi. p. 327) ; they were printed in Me'm. de I'Inst. iii. 1801, reset 

 and repaged, and with the "errata" which appeared in p. 56 of the 

 " Discours '"' corrected ; they also appeared, with additions by Daudin, 

 in vol. xiv. of the Quadruples of Didot's Buffon in October 1802 ; from 

 which volume separates were issued in the same year, of which one 

 copy, and that of birds, is known. It is further to be noted, as a 

 correction of my previous note, that of the specific names Lacepede 

 supplied one each to the mammals, as seen in the original tract and in 

 the Mem. de I'Inst., while the whole of the other specific names are 

 Daudin's, and their date must of course be a matter of separate 

 individual inquiry. 



Professor Newton, who has followed the whole inquiry in the 

 kindest and closest manner, has carefully examined the 1799 tract 

 and says : " My impression is that the two ' Tableaux ' (Mammals and 

 Birds), each of which has its own pagination, distinct from that of the 

 ' Discours,' must have been printed before the ' Discours ' were — - 

 and the Birds indeed so long before as An vi., on the 6 Fructidor, 

 of which year the table tvas shown to and a memoir upon it read 

 before the Institute, as he himself [Lacepede] stated on the 21 

 Prairial of the following year, when he presented the Mammal scheme. 

 You' will observe that the ' Tableau ' of Birds in your copy has no 

 separate title-page, and it looks as if that was printed off in An vi. — 

 the ' Tableau ' of Mammals not being printed till the following year — 

 in which year also the little Buffon, according to its original title- 

 page ('chez Saugrain,' etc.), was printed, i.e. 1799, while in my view 

 the original 'Tableau' of Birds belongs to An vi., i.e. 1798! 

 Whether publiccdion in the strictest sense of the word can be claimed 

 successfully for that date is more than I should like to say ; but there 

 ought, I think, to be no doubt that his genera both of Mammals and 

 Birds were published in An vii. (1799)." 



In a further letter Professor Newton points out, that while in the 

 Mini, de I'Inst. the errata that appeared on p. 56 of the "Discours" 



