INTRODUCTION TO SECOND EDITION 



THE first edition of the Check List seems to have been 

 useful. Great changes have come in our knowledge of 

 the North American fauna since it was written, so great in- 

 deed that there has been a general request for a revised edi- 

 tion. This we have attempted in as impartial a manner as 

 possible. Probably no one will agree with all our conclusions. 

 The reason for issuing this revision now is that the present 

 seems to be as good a time as any later date, in view of the 

 fact that the last word will not be said for years to come. 



Recent writers have often erred egregiously in the use of 

 accents in Spanish place names. We confess it is difficult to 

 satisfy the puristic conventions. Our general rule is to ac- 

 cent all Spanish words in which the last syllable is stressed 

 and which ends in a vowel. 



It is not the real province of a Check List to initiate 

 changes in usage except where nomenclature does not con- 

 form to the International Code. We admit new species and 

 subspecies as they are proposed, except where their validity 

 is definitely contra-indicated. As to the various more funda- 

 mental changes in classification which have been proposed 

 we can only say that we are inclined to consider them very 

 sympathetically, but they have not as yet stood the test of 

 time. We have, however, omitted the term Eublepharidae 

 most willingly. But Pseudacris and Manculus, which some 

 would suppress, are convenient names for apparently natural 

 associations of species, and, therefore, who would ask more 

 reason for their retention in the ranks of valid genera? It is 

 to be hoped that American herpetology may not fall into 

 the unhappy condition now seen in our ornithology with its 

 overmultiplied monotypic genera; still, however, any reason- 

 able efforts to break up the great unwieldy genera are cer- 

 tainly welcome. 



