REVIEWS. 



Ornithological Synonyms. By the late Hugh E. Strickland, M.A., 

 F.R.S., &c. Edited by Mrs. H. E. Strickland and Sir W. Jardine, 

 Bart. 8vo. London : Van Voorst. 1856. 12s. 6d. 



It is impossible for any person who has not entered well into the study 

 of practical Ornithology duly to appreciate the difficulties attending it ; 

 owing, mainly, to the reckless way in which Synonyms have been multi- 

 plied. Sir W. Jardine, in the preface to the work of his much-lamented 

 son-in-law, Mr. Strickland, while he alludes to the many causes which 

 have occasioned the multiplication referred to, does not, we think, bear 

 sufficiently heavily on the class of persons who seek to be enrolled in the 

 list of naturalists on the score of altering established nomenclature ; for it is 

 not possible to imagine, in some cases, any other motive. Mr. Strickland 

 in some of his published papers, viz., in Mag. Nat. Hist., Vol. VIII. , p. 636, 

 and Vol. I., n.s., p. 127, commented warmly and strongly on this practice. For 

 its prevention, it was proposed, 1st. That no name should be acknowledged 

 in Natural Science, until it had been submitted to, and approved of by, a 

 Scientific Committee to be elected from the Savans of Europe. 2nd. 

 Any name thus sanctioned not to be altered without the consent of the 

 aforesaid body. Just as our law requires that no man shall change his own 

 family name, without obtaining an approval, under the sign manual of the 

 Queen, and recording the same in the office of arms ; and this sanction, be it 

 observed, is only given on fair reasons being shown that the change is pro- 

 per and desirable ; in the absence of such reasons it is withheld. We fear, 

 however, that the organization of such a committee is impracticable. 

 Another scheme proposed is to suppress all notice of the introducers of 

 useless names ; but this will not do, for several reasons ; principally because 

 it would prevent the correction of errors. We think a plan (a Caustic 

 one) may be adopted which would tend to correct the abuse in question, 

 viz., that when authors, who are well assured of what they are about, find 

 it necessary to quote those of whom we complain, they should, after each 

 improper or needless Synonym insert the word " Silly," or " Ignorant," or 

 such other qualifying addition as the case may seem to require. 



But we have wandered from our immediate subject. We had the hap- 

 piness of well knowing the estimable author, lost to us in his prime, (he 

 was dashed to pieces by a passing train whilst absorbed in the contempla- 

 tion of a geological section in a railway cutting ; ) we have been engaged 

 with him in devising rules for the improvement of nomenclature ; and though 

 we cannot take much credit for work done individually in this matter, we 



