Miscellaneous Ornithological Notes. 331 



calls a genus, and confines within certain discretionary li- 

 mits ; and that species which affords the fairest sample of the 

 whole, he calls a type. I am aware that the quinary theorists 

 attach to the word type, a deeper and more mysterious mean- 

 ing ; but this is not the only one of their doctrines to which I 

 do not subscribe. I have therefore no objection to alter Rule 

 18 into the following form. "The names of families and sub- 

 families should be derived from that genus in them which af- 

 fords the best example of their characters." 



§ 7. — Euphony. — By euphony I understand agreeableness 

 of sound ; and I cannot but think that too great redundancy 

 of syllables is no less prejudicial to this object, than a want 

 of " harmony and liquid softness." 



If Mr. Ogilby will publish his own code of " euphony and 

 propriety of application, he will confer a great benefit on sci- 

 entific nomenclature. As his eyes are open to the numerous 

 errors in the codes of his predecessors, we may hope that his 

 code will be neither "arbitrary, dogmatical, and carelessly 

 drawn up," nor guilty of that "interminable length" apparent in 

 my code, which actually extends to nearly three 8vo pages, and 

 no less than twenty-two clauses, thereby setting a bad example 

 of prolixity to the framers of acts of parliament. I shall re- 

 joice if the 'Codex Ogilbyanus' shall appear to be an improve- 

 ment on its predecessors, for I am well aware that the exist- 

 ing codes are far from perfect, though I do not think Mr. O- 

 gilby has been quite just in his criticisms of them. 



I have now said all that appears necessary to explain my 

 views, and trust there will be no occasion to recur to the sub- 

 ject. I hope that this protracted discussion will at least point 

 out to those naturalists who shall in future have occasion to 

 name new species or new groups, that the best way of defeat- 

 ing the designs of the poachers and petty larceners whom Mr. 

 Ogilby so justly censures, is to adopt such names as the very 

 poachers themselves cannot meddle with. If a new group is 

 distinguished by a name whose meaning is at once obvious 

 and distinctive, the poachers will in vain attempt to appro- 

 priate it; — they may seize on it for a time, but justice will 

 soon restore the stolen goods to their owners. 



Art. VI. Miscellaneous Ornithological Notes. By Mr. John Skaife. 



The Smew. I have now lying before me a beautiful speci- 

 men of the female smew, {Meryus albellus), which I obtained 

 at Preston, on Saturday, January 13th, 1838. In the excel- 

 lent figure by Gould, (' Birds of Europe,' pi. 42, vol. 5), the 



