GLEANINGS 71 



GLEANINGS. 



Edward Meyrick, in the Ent. Mo. Mag. for February (pp. 32-36), contributes 

 a paper which raises an important question. He draws attention to a large number 

 of specific names proposed by an American lepidopterist for new species of Tortricina 

 — names of so absurd a construction that our present author renames them all ! 

 Now which names are to be accepted ? We cordially agree with everything that 

 Mr Meyrick says, yet under the strict rules of present-day nomenclature we 

 fear that the earlier names must stand. To realise their absurdity the lists given in 

 the present paper must be consulted. We do think that some check ought to be 

 put upon the vagaries of the species-describer, when he endeavours to be too 

 original. If the example of this American be followed there can be no limit to the 

 use of gibberish, and the choice of names for new species will become a farce, to 

 say nothing of the difficulty of remembering arbitrary and meaningless combina- 

 tions of letters. Against such a method of christening quite reasonable arguments 

 might be advanced in support of the use of numerals. Papilla 1245 or Car alms 379, 

 if the species be numbered in the order of discovery, would certainly tell us 

 something, whereas such names as Eucosma uomonana, vovana, and hohana (and so 

 on ad. lib.'), can only serve as a butt for ridicule. 



In The Field for 6th January (p. 49) appears an interesting article on " The 

 Scottish Wild Cat," from the pen of R. I. Pocock, the able superintendent 

 of the Zoological Gardens, London. Portraits are given of the Scottish Cat, and 

 of the Burmese Jungle Cat, with which our native species is compared. Reference 

 is made to a young female recently purchased for the Gardens from an Inverness- 

 shire gamekeeper. The correct scientific name of this interesting Scottish animal 

 is stated to be Felts sylvestris, since it has been clearly shown that the name of 

 calus was applied by Linnceus in the first instance to the domestic blotched or 

 marbled tabby. 



From British Birds (vol. v.), we note the following: — A specimen of the 

 American form of the Peregrine [Falco peregrinus anatuui), new to Britain, was 

 caught on 28th September 1910, in nets used for catching Plover, at Humberstone 

 on the Lincolnshire coast, and is recorded by Mr Caton Haigh (p. 219). A bird 

 which was shot near Market Boswoith, Leicestershire, by Mr Whitaker, on 

 31st October 1891, also belongs to this form. A male Bulwer's Petrel (Bulueria 

 bulweri) — a very rare wanderer to our coasts — was picked up on the shore at 

 Pevensey, Sussex, during a gale on 24th October 191 1 (recorded by H. W. 

 Ford-Lindsay, p. 198). Several other Slender-billed Nutcrackers (A'ucifraga 

 macro rhynchus) are recorded (pp. 191 and 225). A male Collared Flycatcher 

 {Muscicapa collaris') was shot at Udimore Lane, near Winchelsea, on 12th May 

 191 1, and another at the same place next day (J. B. Nichols, p. 238). H. W. 

 Ford-Lindsay records (p. 247) six Ferruginous Ducks (Fuligula nyroca) from 

 Crowhurst, and (p. 253) a Little Dusky Shearwater {Puffinus godmani) picked up 

 dead on the shore near St Leonards-on-Sea. A Madeiran P'ork-tailed Petrel 

 (Oceanodroma castrd) is reported by P. W. Munn (p. 252) as picked up dead on 

 the beach at Milford, Hampshire. 



An interesting paper on the first stages of Sitaris muralis, Forst., and Metoecus 

 paradoxus, L., accompanied by three instructive photographic plates, is given by 

 Dr T. A. Chapman in the Ent. Mo. Mag. for February (pp. 29-32). Interest in 



