190 PEOCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



foimd, not only that wbicli is rigiitly called Cygmis, wliicli lias a lioarse 

 and hissing voice, but also the OJor, which the newest zoologists hesi- 

 tate over, and which has a clear and i)leasant voice, which can be heard 

 far; it ought thus to belong to a different species." In a foot-note he 

 adds: "I mean here the so-called C^r/wMs/er^ts, . . . which . . • 

 really is a distinct species from the so-called Cygmis mansuetnsy He 

 gives the name clearly, in a scientific and highly distinguished journal, 

 which, at that time, was widely spread over everywhere where the 

 science of natural history was cultivated, and four years after the 

 above-quoted remarks were translated into German (Schwed. Abhaudl. 

 Uebersetzt von A. G. Kiistner, 41 vol. p. 23, Leipzic, 1783). He urges 

 repeatedly that the same species (in opposition to Linnaeus, who had 

 only distinguished between the two Swans as the wild and the tame 

 state of the same species) must be separated, and his indication of 

 which kind he means is fully unmistakable. By this he has fulfilled 

 all demands by adopting a name given by an author. In this case it is 

 not less than nine years older than Gimelin's. But of his errors, the 

 same applies to this as to many others — that science must not allow 

 itself to be bound by them, even if it should cause the greatest difficul- 

 ties to rectify the mistake. 



Among the synonyms of this species Mr. Dresser (Birds of Eur.) 

 cites ^^Anas {Cygmis) mmisuetus, Lath. Gen. Synopsis, Suppl. p. 297 

 (1787)." This quotation is not correct, and can be misapprehended, as 

 if Latham had given the name mansuetns as a specific one, but he 

 only writes — 



Genus XCII. 

 Anas. 



. . . Cygmis {ferns) . . . 



. . . {mansuetus) . . . 



