114 Letters, Announcements, ^r. 



avian stem at a time when as yet the metatarsal bones formed 

 distinct and independent entities in the members of the entire 

 class of birds." 



Nineteen admirably executed plates illustrate this excellent 

 memoir. 



XII. — Letters, Announcements, ^c. 



We have received the following letters addressed to the 

 Editors of 'The Ibis:'— 



6 Oxford and Cambridge Mansions, 

 12tli November, 1883. 



SiRS^ — No one who has perused the last Journal of the late 

 W. A. Forbes, which is published in 'The Ibis' for October, can 

 fail to admire the spirit with which, in spite of failing health, 

 he attempted to carry out the project he had in view, and his 

 devotion to the last to the cause of Ornithology. Nor will 

 any one deny that the proposal made by Capt. Shelley in the 

 same number of ' The Ibis,' to rename a species which Mr. 

 Forbes procured on the Niger, j^gialitis forhesl, is a well- 

 deserved tribute to his memory, although I am one of those 

 who think that the practice of naming species after indi- 

 viduals is now-a-days far too common. 



Circumstances which I need not here detail, led me to 

 describe the same species in ' The Zoologist ' for October, and 

 to propose for it the name of JEffialitis nigris. On reflection, 

 I think that I should have done better had I stated that I 

 believed Capt. Shelley had proposed to call it u^gialitisforbesi, 

 and had expressed my concurrence in that course. 



Under the circumstances I propose that the name suggested 

 by me should be treated as a synonym, and that the species 

 should stand as JEgialitis forbesi, Shelley. 



I am, &c., 



J, E. Harttng. 



74 .lermyn Street, St. James's, 

 November 16th, 1888. 



SiKs, — Happening to be at Turin on Wednesday, the 31st 



