Zoology, . 063 



ness Corvus frugilegus into Corvus prsedat^rius. The former 

 name is strictly applicable to that species, and to that alone ; 

 and so useful a bird does not deserve the name of ihief. The 

 chaffinch (which received its name of cce^lebs from Linnaeus, 

 on account of the males alone remaining in Sweden during 

 the winter ; which fact is corroborated by White, who found 

 scarcely any but females in Hampshire during that season) 

 has had its name changed by Mr. Rennie into »Spiza, The 

 old name is characteristic of a remarkable fact in the economy 

 of this bird ; why the new one is more appropriate (neither 

 understanding Greek, nor having read Aristotle,) I cannot 

 say : will Mr. Rennie condescend to enlighten me ? Once for 

 all, if we are to have a new nomenclature, let a committee of 

 able naturalists decide upon it, or let us submit to the autho- 

 rity of a master (for instance, Linnaeus or Temminck) ; but 

 do not let every book-maker who publishes a work on natural 

 history, rejecting names well established and universally re- 

 ceived, give new ones, in such a way as serves only to show 

 his own presumption, and to confuse what it ought to be his 

 business to elucidate. — 7'. G. Clitheroe, Lancashire, June SO, 

 1832. 



Siren \acertina L., S07ne Notice of the Habits of; ahridgedfrom 

 a jprinted Copy, sent by Mr, Neill, of his Communication on the 

 Subject, i?i the Edifiburgh Philosophicaljournaljbr April, 1832. 

 — The individual specimen here figured (fg.l 16.) was received 



alive by Dr. Monro, 

 in 1825^ from Dr. Far- 

 mer of Charleston, 

 South Carolina, where 

 specimens of the ani- 

 mal occur sparingly 

 in the rice marshes ; 

 Mr. Neill believes that it also occurs in the creeks of the 

 Mississippi and Ohio rivers ; because, on showing it, in 

 the spring of 1830, to Mr. Audubon, this gentleman recog- 

 nised it as an old acquaintance ; he having witnessed speci- 

 mens being occasionally taken in those latter places, in the 

 trawl-nets, by the fishermen, who called the animal water- 

 dog or water- puppy. The live specimen came to Dr. Monro 

 in a small barrel, having a perforated lid, and the lower 

 part containing some of the mud native to the reptile's 

 place of capture, among which it nestled. Dr. Monro con- 

 fided it to the well-known care of Mr. Neill, Canonmills, 

 near Edinburgh, who received it of Dr. Monro in June, 

 1825, and kept it alive till October, 1831 ; that is, for the 



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