104. On the Assignation of a Type to Linncean Genera. 



the genera defined in it can stand of their own right from that 

 date, under the exact words of the ride." That this edition 

 exists, I believe there is no doubt, though I have never set 

 eyes on a copy. Had I done so, and found it to agree in 

 this respect with the edition of 1760, I should be sure that 

 the preceding paragraph Avas unnecessary ; but lacking the 

 opportunity of knowing whether this is the case or not, 

 I am unable to substantiate what would be absolutely 

 conclusive. 



And now to meet such of Mr. Sharpens objections as I have 

 not already, I trust, disposed of. It is clear that considerable 

 doubt must exist as to Linnseus^s Strix ahico ; and therefore 

 one cannot declare that his " No. 9 is identical with No. 7." 

 It is impossible that Brisson's arrangement " influenced Lin- 

 naeus in his classification ;" for Linnaeus had already divided 

 the Owls into " Auriculatee " and " Inauricidata " in the 10th 

 edition of his ' Systema,^ written three years before * Brisson^s 

 work appeared ; but it is probable that both authors followed 

 the earlier systematists, Willughby and Ray, in this obvious 

 division. It is hardly consistent with fact to say of the genus 

 Strix that "no type had previously been assigned" until 

 Savigny designated S. flammea as such ; for, even if Linnseus's 

 type be disallowed, we have that of Brisson plainly determined, 

 and consequently Savigny was not " perfectly justified " in 

 doing as he did, while, on the other hand, Fleming, in sepa- 

 rating /S. Jlammea as the type of his new genus Aluco, and 

 restoring S. stridula to the genus Strix, was acting strictly 

 within rule. Of the praise which Mr. Sharpe awards to Sa- 

 vignv, I have only to say that perhaps, had the latter^s am- 

 bitious work been completed, we might possibly have hailed 

 him as a reformer of nomenclature superior to Linnaeus ; but 

 perhaps it is as well that the ' Oiseaux de TEgypte et de la 

 Syrie ' remains a fragment ; for no one can go over the long 

 list of references to ancient authors, on which most of his 

 decisions are based, without seeing that a large number of 

 them are, and must be, hypothetical in the highest degree. 



* This edition was published in 175'^ : but the preface is dated 24th 

 May, 1757. 



