REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 41 



pared witli the \' iew to supply the wide-spread demaud for a catalogue 

 of North Americau birds which shall be complete up to date as r tgards 

 the euumeratiou of species known to occur in North America, and at the 

 same time includes a thorough though condensed digest, with references 

 of the additions to the fauna and changes of nomenclature which have 

 been made during the period of twenty-one years which has elapsed 

 since the i)ublication of the last Smithsonian catalogue, in 1859. This 

 ncAV catalogue, with numerous revisions and additions, is now (Decem- 

 ber, 1880) being printed for publication in pamphlet form. 



(o) Catalogue of TrocMUdo} in the collection of the United States N'a- 

 tional Museum. — This is a list of the species of humming birds contained 

 in the National Collection, all the localities represented by the specimens 

 being given with each species. The chief object of this list is to call at- 

 tention to the desiderata, so that correspondents may be able to furnish 

 species which are lacking to the collection, and thus render it more com- 

 plete. 



Dr. Tarleton H. Bean has furnished among other papers : 



A list of European fishes in the collection of the United States National 

 Museum. — About 350 nominal species are mentioned. As this list is in- 

 tended simj)ly to facilitate exchanges with museums in Europe, the 

 names under which the fishes were received are retained without refer- 

 ence to our latest knowledge concerning the classification and specific 

 identitj" of certain species. 



Other articles have been supplied by Messrs. S. T. Cattie, F. M. 

 Endlich, S. Garman, C. n. Gilbert, T. Gill, G. B. Goode, O. P. Hay, 

 A. Heilpriu, D. S. Jordan, G. N. Lawrence, W. N. Lockingtou, R. 

 Eathbun, J. A. Eyder, R. Smith, J. J. Smith, J. G. Swan, A. E. Verrill, 

 and C. A. White. 



Systematic Nomenclature. — In carrying out investigations in sj^stematic 

 natural history a large part of the labor consists in determining the prior- 

 ity of names, esi)ecially those of the genera employed or proposed j and 

 for many years each inquirer was obliged to repeat the labors of others 

 and to waste a vast amount of his time thereby. In 1840. the late Prof. 

 Louis Agassiz j)repared a list of all names of genera that had been pro- 

 posed in zoology, giving the dates, references to place of publication, and 

 the groui) of the animal kingdom to which they belonged. No greater 

 boon could have been extended to students than this compilation, 

 which answered its purpose fully for a number of years. In 1873, Mr. 

 Marschall prepared a supplement to the work of Professor A gassiz, 

 which was also of very great moment. For many years past, however, 

 no convenient digest has been available to cover more recent researches, 

 as the spirit of scientific investigation is increasing in almost geomet- 

 rical ratio, and the need of a new nomenclature has been apparent. 

 Mr. S. H. Scudder, of Cambridge, Mass., has devoted a large portion of 

 time lately to the preparation of a second sui)plemeut to Piofessor 



